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

See Examples For:

bedaub

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

From The Captive in Patagonia by Benjamin Franklin Bourne

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

From Custom and Myth by Andrew Lang

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 Thomasina Ross

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 Andrew Lang

Demosthenes describes the mother of Æschines as a dabbler in mysteries, and tells how Æschines used to assist her by helping to bedaub the initiate with clay and bran.

From Storyology Essays in Folk-Lore, Sea-Lore, and Plant-Lore by Benjamin Taylor

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---