daub

[dawb]

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verb (used with object)

to cover or coat with soft, adhesive matter, as plaster or mud: to daub a canvas with paint; to daub stone walls with mud.

to spread (plaster, mud, etc.) on or over something: to daub plaster on a brick wall.

to smear, soil, or defile.

to apply, as paint or colors, unskillfully.

verb (used without object)

to daub something.

to paint unskillfully.

noun

material, especially of an inferior kind, for daubing walls.

something daubed on.

an act of daubing.

a crude, inartistic painting.

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.

Related formsdaub·er, noundaub·ing·ly, adverbdaub·y, adjectiveun·daubed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for dauber

illustrator, artisan, craftsman, animator, dauber, landscapist, miniaturist

Examples from the Web for dauber

Historical Examples of dauber

And now you can go to—one dauber less is a blessing to humanity!
Plays by August Strindberg, Third Series
August Strindberg
Dauber, it will be seen, is more than an exciting story of a storm.
Old and New Masters
Robert Lynd
Enguehard is an idle dog, who does no good, while Rivol is too well off ever to be anything more than an amateur and a dauber.
Popular Tales
Madame Guizot
When Cyrus Glover was informed that his daughter intended to marry a dauber in paints, he started for Paris on ten hours' notice.
Murder in Any Degree
Owen Johnson
Secker means sackmaker, Parmenter a parchmenter, Pargater a dauber, Straker a maker of tires.
Why we should read
S. P. B. Mais

British Dictionary definitions for dauber

daub

verb

(tr) to smear or spread (paint, mud, etc), esp carelessly

(tr) to cover or coat (with paint, plaster, etc) carelessly

to paint (a picture) clumsily or badly

noun

an unskilful or crude painting

something daubed on, esp as a wall coveringSee also wattle and daub

a smear (of paint, mud, etc)

the act of daubing

Derived Formsdauber, noundauby, adjective

Word Origin for daub

C14: from Old French dauber to paint, whitewash, from Latin dealbāre, from albāre to whiten, from albus white

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dauber

daub

late 14c. (Dauber as a surname is recorded from mid-13c.), from Old French dauber "to whitewash, plaster" (13c.), perhaps from Latin dealbare, from de- "thoroughly" + albare "to whiten," from albus "white" (see alb). Painting sense is from 1620s. Related: Daubed; daubing. As a noun, from mid-15c.