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
Derived 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.
At funerals, "the women besmear themselves with the most disgusting filth."
From Primitive Love and Love-Stories by Finck, Henry Theophilus
The women besmear themselves with the most disgusting filth.
From The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia by Frazer, James George, Sir
Overstain, ō-vėr-stān′, v.t. to besmear the surface of.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
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
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.
