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bedaub

[bih-dawb]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to smear all over; besmear; soil.
  2. to ornament gaudily or excessively.
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Origin of bedaub

First recorded in 1545–55; be- + daub
Related formsun·be·daubed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

sullysmirchanointsoilsmudgedaubspreadbesmearstain

Examples from the Web for bedaub

Historical Examples

  • With this paste the natives delighted to bedaub their faces.

    The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 2

    Hubert Howe Bancroft

  • The men paint or bedaub their faces and breasts with a kind of red earth.

    The Captive in Patagonia

    Benjamin Franklin Bourne

  • Against which he prepares to bedaub him, and swears he will do it from the beginning, from Jersey to this day.

  • Whan a man's shoe is blackened and bedaub'd with industry, it will procure him such a supply as will make him cheerful.

    The Proverbs of Scotland

    Alexander Hislop

British Dictionary definitions for bedaub

bedaub

verb (tr)
  1. to smear all over with something thick, sticky, or dirty
  2. to ornament in a gaudy or vulgar fashion
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bedaub

v.

1550s, from be- + daub (v). Related: Bedaubed; bedaubing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper