blot

English

Etymology

From Middle English blot (“blot, spot, stain, blemish”). Perhaps from Old Norse *blettr (“blot, stain”) (only attested in documents from after Old Norse transitioned to Icelandic blettur), or from Old French bloche (“clod of earth”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /blɒt/
• Rhymes: -ɒt
• (General American) IPA^(key): /blɑt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

blot (plural blots)

1. A blemish, spot or stain made by a coloured substance.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 28, column 2:

     England bound in with the triumphant ſea, / Whoſe rocky ſhore beates backe the enuious ſiedge / Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with ſhame, / With Inky blottes, and rotten Parchment bonds.

   • 1711, Jonathan Swift, An Excellent New Song:

     I withdrew my subscription by help of a blot, / And so might discover or gain by the plot:

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter XVII. Somebody Turns Up.”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, , published 1850, →OCLC, page 176:

     Her utmost powers of expression (which were certainly not great in ink) were exhausted in the attempt to write what she felt on the subject of my journey. Four sides of incoherent and interjectional beginnings of sentences, that had no end, except blots, were inadequate to afford her any relief. But the blots were more expressive to me than the best composition; for they showed me that Peggotty had been crying all over the paper, and what could I have desired more?

   • 1918, Siegfried Sassoon, “The Death-Bed”, in The Old Huntsman and Other Poems‎, London: Heinemann, page 95:

     […] He was blind; he could not see the stars
     Glinting among the wraiths of wandering cloud;
     Queer blots of colour, purple, scarlet, green,
     Flickered and faded in his drowning eyes.

2. (by extension) A stain on someone's reputation or character; a disgrace.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 43, column 1:

     Thy ouerflow of good, conuerts to bad, / And thy abundant goodneſſe ſhall excuſe / This deadly blot, in thy digreſſing ſonne.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Proverbs 9:7, column 2:

     He that reproueth a ſcorner, getteth to himſelfe ſhame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man, getteth himſelfe a blot.

   • 1785, William Cowper, “Book II. The Time-piece.”, in The Task, a Poem, , London: J Johnson;  , →OCLC, page 46:

     Thus man devotes his brother, and deſtroys; / And worſe than all, and moſt to be deplored / As human nature’s broadeſt, fouleſt blot, / Chains him, and taſks him, and exacts his ſweat / With ſtripes, that mercy with a bleeding heart / Weeps when ſhe ſees inflicted on a beaſt.

   • 1960 February, “The dieselised St. Pancras suburban service”, in Trains Illustrated, page 95:

     The only blot on this service is that of its Kentish Town connections, which throughout the day in many cases just miss the St. Pancras-Luton stopping trains.

3. (biochemistry) A method of transferring proteins, DNA or RNA, onto a carrier.
4. (backgammon) An exposed piece in backgammon.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Polish: blotka

Translations

Verb

blot (third-person singular simple present blots, present participle blotting, simple past and past participle blotted)

1. (transitive) To cause a blot (on something) by spilling a coloured substance.
2. (intransitive) To soak up or absorb liquid.

   This paper blots easily.

3. (transitive) To dry (writing, etc.) with blotting paper.
4. (transitive) To spot, stain, or bespatter, as with ink.
   • 1566, George Gascoigne, Dan Bartholmew of Bath:

     The briefe was writte and blotted all with gore, […]

5. (transitive) To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 229, column 1:

     It blots thy beautie, as froſts doe bite the Meads, […]

6. (transitive) To stain with infamy; to disgrace.
   • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert:

     Blot not thy Innocence with guiltleſs Blood.

7. (transitive) To obliterate, as writing with ink; to cancel; to efface; generally with out.

   to blot out a word or a sentence

   • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. , London: Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, Act V, page 82:

     One act like this blots out a thouſand Crimes.

8. (transitive) To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow.
   • 1656, Abraham Cowley, Davideis:

     He ſung how Earth blots the Moons gilded Wane, […]

9. (transitive, MLE) To sell illegal drugs, to deal, to push.
   • 2006 June 26, “Where Ya From?” (track 10), in Who Needs Actions When You Got Words‎, performed by Plan B (musician):

     I'm walking down the street, past the coppers on the beat. Past the shotters blottin' weed, clear for everyone to see.

   • 2009 March 17, “Next Hype” (track 3), in All-Star Pars‎, performed by Tempa T:

     What kind of things that you have. When I find out don't expect me to stop. I'll come for the P's that you stack. And come for the food that you blot.

   • 2014 August 18, “Earth Burns”‎performed by Porchy,Oxxxymiron:

     Porchy: Blottin' dope on the block, going on these shows.

10. (backgammon, transitive) To hit a blot.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Bolt, bolt

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle Low German blōt (“bare”), from Proto-Germanic *blautaz (“void, emaciated, soft”), cognate with German bloß (“bare”) and Danish blød (“soft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Adjective

blot (plural and definite singular attributive blotte)

1. (dated) mere, very

Adverb

blot

1. (slightly formal) only, merely

Synonyms

• kun, bare

Etymology 2

From Old Norse blót, from Proto-Germanic *blōtą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

blot

1. a sacrifice (especially a blood sacrifice by heathens)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Verb

blot

1. imperative of blotte

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Verb

blot

1. imperative of blote

Low German

Etymology

From Middle Low German blōt (“bare”), from Proto-Germanic *blautaz (“void, emaciated, soft”), cognate with German bloß (“bare”) and Danish blød (“soft”). Spelling variant of bloot.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Adverb

blot

1. only, merely

Synonyms

• blots, man

References

• Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, →ISBN, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster)

Luxembourgish

Adjective

blot

1. neuter nominative of blo
2. neuter accusative of blo

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *blōtą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bloːt/

Noun

blōt n

1. a sacrifice, especially a blood sacrifice by heathens
   • He ealle ða cuman to blote gedyde ― he gave all the strangers as a sacrifice. (Alfred's Orosius)

Declension

Related terms

• blōtan
• blōtmōnaþ

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse blót, from Proto-Germanic *blōtą.

Noun

blot n

1. a blót (heathen sacrificial ceremony)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

• blota
• blotare

References

• blot in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• blot in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• blot in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)