distain

[ dih-steyn ]

verb (used with object)Archaic.
  1. to discolor; stain; sully.

Origin of distain

1
1350–1400; Middle English desteignen<Anglo-French, Middle French desteign-, stem of desteindre, equivalent to des-dis-1 + teindre<Latin tingere to dye, tinge

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use distain in a sentence

  • It was doubtless precisely because she distained certain forms of feminine barter that she got so much for nothing.

    Hilda | Sarah Jeanette Duncan
  • He was dressed in a gray-flannel gown and short breeches, the stockings wrinkled and distained, the feet in slippers.

    Lucretia, Complete | Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • And that stretched on yon billows distained by their gore Missolonghi's assassins have gasped?

    Mosaics of Grecian History | Marcius Willson
  • The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained.

  • The first shred of evidence of this that Adua was indeed not a bountiful plant came when cattle distained his presence.

    The Land of Look Behind | Paul Cameron Brown