bedaub

American  

[bih-dawb] / bɪˈdɔb /

verb (used with object)

1. to smear all over; besmear; soil.

2. to ornament gaudily or excessively.

---

bedaub British  

/ bɪˈdɔːb /

verb

1. to smear all over with something thick, sticky, or dirty

2. to ornament in a gaudy or vulgar fashion

---

Other Word Forms

• unbedaubed adjective

Etymology

Origin of bedaub

First recorded in 1545–55; be- + daub

Example Sentences

Both Greeks and savages employ the bull-roarer, both bedaub the initiated with dirt or with white paint or chalk.

From Custom and Myth New Edition by Lang, Andrew

The women wear small ear-rings of silver, but use no paint, nor do they bedaub their persons with any sort of pigment.

From Lander's Travels The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa by Huish, Robert

To smear with any viscous, glutinous matter; to bedaub; to soil.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah

Some tribes paint the face only; others, on the contrary, do not touch that part; but bedaub with colors their arms, feet, and breasts.

From Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests by Ross, Thomasina

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

From The Captive in Patagonia by Bourne, Benjamin Franklin