daub
Americanverb (used with object)
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daubs,
present (3rd person singular)
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daubed,
past participle, past
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daubing
present participle
-
to cover or coat with soft, adhesive matter, as plaster or mud.
to daub a canvas with paint; to daub stone walls with mud.
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to spread (plaster, mud, etc.) on or over something.
to daub plaster on a brick wall.
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to smear, soil, or defile.
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to apply, as paint or colors, unskillfully.
verb (used without object)
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daubs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
daubed,
past participle, past
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daubing
present participle
-
to daub something.
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to paint unskillfully.
noun
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material, especially of an inferior kind, for daubing walls.
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something daubed on.
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an act of daubing.
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a crude, inartistic painting.
verb
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(tr) to smear or spread (paint, mud, etc), esp carelessly
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(tr) to cover or coat (with paint, plaster, etc) carelessly
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to paint (a picture) clumsily or badly
noun
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an unskilful or crude painting
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something daubed on, esp as a wall covering See also wattle and daub
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a smear (of paint, mud, etc)
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the act of daubing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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daubsimple
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daubssimple
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have daubedperfect
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has daubedperfect
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am daubingprogressive
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are daubingprogressive
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is daubingprogressive
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have been daubingperfect progressive
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has been daubingperfect progressive
Past
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daubedsimple
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had daubedperfect
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was daubingprogressive
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were daubingprogressive
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had been daubingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of daub
1275–1325; (v.) Middle English dauben < Anglo-French, Old French dauber to whiten, paint < Latin dealbāre, equivalent to de-, prevocalic variant of dē- de- + albāre to whiten, derivative of albus white; (noun) late Middle English, derivative of the v.
Explanation
Whenever you smear something on a surface, you are daubing. Abstract Expressionists may have been able to daub a canvas with paint and sell it for millions, but you probably wouldn’t be so lucky. Daub can be used as a verb or as a noun, and is derived from the Old French debaur which comes from the Latin dealbare “to whiten.” It is also used to describe the process of covering a surface with an adhesive substance such as plaster, mud or grease. However, in its noun form, it means a smear of something. When you are ordering "a bagel with a smear," you could impress the guy at the deli by asking for "a daub" instead.
Vocabulary lists containing daub
Stroke of Genius: Words About Painting
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The Odyssey
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"Daedalus and Icarus"
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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.
See Examples For:
He is a pliant enough actor to daub each portrait with just enough psychological color.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026
They're checking that their daub of Harry Kane, envisaged to occupy an entire wall, is complete.
From BBC ● May 28, 2023
Collage may indicate motion in Furey’s work, as in two pictures of dancers whose bodies are covered in patterns, whether more flower photos or rendered with line and daub.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2023
Celebrants daub each other with vividly colored powders.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 15, 2022
“Call this long?” the sailor replied, swinging far out to daub the curving tail of the dolphin.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
Mottled green daubs represent grass; lounging amoebic growths stand in for rocks, perhaps mountain peaks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
Whether slotting daubs of paint between the lines or sweeping color across them, the grid both confines and energizes simple subjects like mountains or trees, and intensifies elemental studies of form and color.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
The algorithm-driven daubs of pastel color, although they never cohere into legible images, “explore the heritage of landscape painting,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2022
Amid the long-running protests, people playing the character increasingly use different color face paint, including daubs of soot.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 13, 2021
He was the painters idea of a man, simply daubs of paint, nothing more.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
Martine Letterie, one of the campaign's organisers, said concentration camps were increasingly the target of vandalism, including far-right imagery daubed on sites.
From Barron's ● Mar. 19, 2026
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper banned the group under terrorism laws after paint was daubed on jets at RAF Brize Norton.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2025
With the campaign heading into the homestretch, Gluesenkamp Perez recently embarked on a RV tour of the 3rd Congressional District, down twisting two-lane roads, past farmland and forests daubed with red, yellow and orange.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2024
Not far from the centre of Tbilisi, Vano Chkhikvadze points to graffiti daubed in red on the walls and ground outside his office at the Civil Society Foundation.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2024
Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
St George's crosses also appeared painted on roundabouts in Birmingham and Bromsgrove, with a video of one man daubing the road in full view of a police officer.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2025
Prosecutors are also investigating whether two Moldovans who admitted to daubing Stars of David on the walls of Parisian properties did so at the behest of someone abroad.
From Reuters ● Nov. 8, 2023
Punishment was swiftly meted out for any public expression of Ukrainian patriotism — displaying a flag, singing a national ballad, daubing a bit of blue-and-yellow graffiti.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
After an initiation ritual that involves daubing blood on the screen of her laptop, she contributes videos to a growing body of lore purporting to document the game’s sinister consequences.
From New York Times ● Apr. 13, 2022
I wasn’t sure how he was going to get his boots back on, even after daubing the worst of the blisters with a paste made of baking soda.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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.
