besmear
Americanverb (used with object)
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to smear all over; bedaub.
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to sully; defile; soil.
to besmear someone's reputation.
verb
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to smear over; daub
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to sully; defile (often in the phrase besmear ( a person's ) reputation )
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of besmear
before 1050; Middle English bismeren, Old English besmerian. See be-, smear
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And although we may besmear our liver and brain in the mire, how could we show our gratitude, even to so slight a degree as one ten-thousandth part.
From Hung Lou Meng, Book I Or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel in Two Books by Joly, H. Bencraft
She was about to besmear her face, when lady Feng pleaded: "My dear child, do let me off this time!"
From Hung Lou Meng, Book II Or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel in Two Books by Joly, H. Bencraft
To foul with a dirty liquid; to besmear.
From The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire by Jennings, James
Beslobber, be-slob′ėr, v.t. to besmear with the spittle running from one's mouth: to cover with drivelling kisses: to flatter fulsomely.—v.t.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
At funerals, "the women besmear themselves with the most disgusting filth."
From Primitive Love and Love-Stories by Finck, Henry Theophilus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
