besmear

From Middle English *bismerwen, from Old English besmirwan, besmierwan (“to besmear”), equivalent to be- +‎ smear. Cognate with Dutch besmeren (“to besmear”), German beschmieren (“to besmear”).

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• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

besmear (third-person singular simple present besmears, present participle besmearing, simple past and past participle besmeared)

1. (transitive) To smear over, to smear all over, to daub.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:

     I long to ſee thee backe returne from thence,
     That I may view theſe milk-white ſteeds of mine.
     All loden with the heads of killed men,
     And from their knees, euen to their hoofes below,
     Beſmer’d with blood, that makes a dainty ſhow.

   • 1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout, page 57:

     […] carters and coachmen, who make in imitation thereof a composition of grease and tar, with which they besmear the inside of the naves of wheels and the extremitys of the axis upon which they move.

2. (transitive) To damage the reputation of, to tarnish, to sully.
   • 1740, Colley Cibber, chapter I, in An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, , London: John Watts for the author, →OCLC, page 3:

     Novv, Sir, vvhen my Time comes, leſt they ſhou'd think it vvorth vvhile to handle my Memory vvith the ſame Freedom, I am vvilling to prevent its being ſo odly beſmear'd (or at beſt but flatly vvhite-vvash'd) by taking upon me to give the Publick This, as true a Picture of myſelf as natural Vanity vvill permit me to dravv; […]

   • 2012 January 26, Mike Allen Jim Vandehei, “Drudge, conservative media criticize Newt Gingrich”, in Politico‎:

     His public record is already besmeared with tawdry divorces, […]

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