besmear

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be·smear

(bĭ-smîr′)

tr.v. be·smeared, be·smear·ing, be·smears

To smear.

[Middle English bismeorwen, to make filthy, from Old English besmirwan, to besmear : be-, be- + smierwan, to smear.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

besmear

(bɪˈsmɪə)

vb (tr)

1. to smear over; daub

2. to sully; defile (often in the phrase besmear (a person's) reputation)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

be•smear

(bɪˈsmɪər)

v.t.

to smear.

[before 1050]

be•smear′er, n.

besmear

Past participle: besmeared
Gerund: besmearing

Imperative
besmear
besmear

Present
I besmear
you besmear
he/she/it besmears
we besmear
you besmear
they besmear

Preterite
I besmeared
you besmeared
he/she/it besmeared
we besmeared
you besmeared
they besmeared

Present Continuous
I am besmearing
you are besmearing
he/she/it is besmearing
we are besmearing
you are besmearing
they are besmearing

Present Perfect
I have besmeared
you have besmeared
he/she/it has besmeared
we have besmeared
you have besmeared
they have besmeared

Past Continuous
I was besmearing
you were besmearing
he/she/it was besmearing
we were besmearing
you were besmearing
they were besmearing

Past Perfect
I had besmeared
you had besmeared
he/she/it had besmeared
we had besmeared
you had besmeared
they had besmeared

Future
I will besmear
you will besmear
he/she/it will besmear
we will besmear
you will besmear
they will besmear

Future Perfect
I will have besmeared
you will have besmeared
he/she/it will have besmeared
we will have besmeared
you will have besmeared
they will have besmeared

Future Continuous
I will be besmearing
you will be besmearing
he/she/it will be besmearing
we will be besmearing
you will be besmearing
they will be besmearing

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been besmearing
you have been besmearing
he/she/it has been besmearing
we have been besmearing
you have been besmearing
they have been besmearing

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been besmearing
you will have been besmearing
he/she/it will have been besmearing
we will have been besmearing
you will have been besmearing
they will have been besmearing

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been besmearing
you had been besmearing
he/she/it had been besmearing
we had been besmearing
you had been besmearing
they had been besmearing

Conditional
I would besmear
you would besmear
he/she/it would besmear
we would besmear
you would besmear
they would besmear

Past Conditional
I would have besmeared
you would have besmeared
he/she/it would have besmeared
we would have besmeared
you would have besmeared
they would have besmeared

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Verb

besmear - spread or daub (a surface)

bedaub

cover - provide with a covering or cause to be covered; "cover her face with a handkerchief"; "cover the child with a blanket"; "cover the grave with flowers"

besmear

verb

1. To spread with a greasy, sticky, or dirty substance:

bedaub, dab, daub, plaster, smear, smirch, smudge.

2. To contaminate the reputation of:

befoul, besmirch, bespatter, blacken, cloud, denigrate, dirty, smear, smudge, smut, soil, spatter, stain, sully, taint, tarnish.

Idioms: give a black eye to, sling mud on.

Translations

besmear

[bɪˈsmiːəʳ] VT → embarrar, embadurnar

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

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References in classic literature ?

First MOLOCH, horrid King besmear'd with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents tears, Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud Their childrens cries unheard, that past through fire To his grim Idol.

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You are repaid by seeing the child besmear his face with sugar; by witnessing how the fool's ecstasy makes a greater fool of him than ever; by watching the dog's nature come out over his bone.

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A man, so besmeared that he might have been a sorely wounded soldier creeping back to consciousness on a field of slain, was rising from the pavement by the side of the grindstone, and looking about him with a vacant air.

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At length he encamped, caused the bodies of the wagons to be dislodged from the wheels, covered with buffalo hide, and besmeared with a compound of tallow and ashes; thus forming rude boats.

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Thus arrayed, their hair besmeared with fish oil, and their bodies bedaubed with red clay, they considered themselves irresistible.

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When all were ready, the king sent them to her; but she got up in the night when all were asleep, and took three of her trinkets, a golden ring, a golden necklace, and a golden brooch, and packed the three dresses--of the sun, the moon, and the stars--up in a nutshell, and wrapped herself up in the mantle made of all sorts of fur, and besmeared her face and hands with soot.

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After a little rolling about, in a close scuffle which caused the faces of both to be besmeared with blood, the man took his knee from Neville's chest, and rose, saying: 'There!

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The constables, also, discovered, between the bed and sacking of the unhappy man, a shirt and neck-handkerchief both marked with the initials of his name, and both hideously besmeared with the blood of the victim.

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Some drank till they were intoxicated; others swallowed the steaming blood of the cattle slaughtered for their suppers, and then, being sick from drunkenness, they cast it up again, and were besmeared with filth and gore.

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Besmeared with mire; his saturated clothes clinging with a damp embrace about his limbs; his beard unshaven, his face unwashed, his meagre cheeks worn into deep hollows,--a more miserable wretch could hardly be, than this man who now cowered down upon the widow's hearth, and watched the struggling flame with bloodshot eyes.

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His bloated body and shrunken legs--their deformity enhanced a hundredfold by the fantastic dress--the glassy eyes, contrasting fearfully with the thick white paint with which the face was besmeared; the grotesquely-ornamented head, trembling with paralysis, and the long skinny hands, rubbed with white chalk--all gave him a hideous and unnatural appearance, of which no description could convey an adequate idea, and which, to this day, I shudder to think of.

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I could not quite understand it, for I am sufficiently sophisticated to know that this is a symptom of love and I certainly did not love this filthy little barbarian with her broken, unkempt nails and her skin so besmeared with mud and the green of crushed foliage that it was difficult to say what color it originally had been.