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.
Dark streams of welling blood besmear Thy limbs where dust and mire adhere, Nor have I strength, weighed down by woe, Mine arms about thy form to throw.
From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin) Griffith
To daub over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster
The inhabitants of Westbothnia, to defend themselves against the bites of gnats, besmear their skin with a mixture of tar and fish-grease, or some other kind of fat.
From Lachesis Lapponica A Tour in Lapland by Carl von Linn?
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 H. Bencraft Joly
It is because I am old and a hermit that you are trying to besmear my advice and belittle me before my lord the king.
From The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc by Robert S. Rudder
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.
