Dictionary

begrime en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /bɪˈɡɹaɪm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /bəˈɡɹaɪm/ (General-American)

Etymology

From be- (prefix meaning ‘about; abundantly; all around; all over’) + grime (“to cake with dirt”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To ingrain grime or dirt which is difficult to remove into (something); also (more generally), to make (something) dirty; to soil.
   • [H]e should forthwith reform his manners, purify himself, and discontinue the vile, filthy habit of snuff-taking—a habit which, to use her own words, begrimeth the face, spoileth the form of the nose—Heaven bless the mark!—destroyeth the voice, and eventually undermineth the constitution. 1837, “an old forest ranger”, “The Great Western Jungle”, in Theodore Hook, editor, The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, volume LI, part 3, number CCIII, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 338:
   • collowest] i.e. begrimest, blackenest: […] Collow is smut from burnt coals. [1840, Alexander Dyce, “The Family of Love”, in Thomas Middleton, The Works of Thomas Middleton, […], volume II, London: Edward Lumley, →OCLC, act III, scene iii, page 152, footnote z:
   • My name that vvas as freſh / As Dians Viſage, is novv begrim'd and blacke / As mine ovvne face. c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 326, column 1:
   • The smoke of the pine-wood fires which at night were kept continually burning around them. This had most effectually begrimed their features, and their dresses had not scrupled to partake of the same colouring. 1835, William Gilmore Simms, chapter VII, in The Partisan: A Tale of the Revolution. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 78:
   • [U]pon a vaine and fooliſh ſuperſtition, enjoining men to begrime and beray themſelves with durt, to lie and vvallovv in the mire, to obſerve Sabbaths and ceaſe from vvorke, to lie proſtrate and groveling upon the earth with the face dovvnevvard, to ſit upon the ground in open place, and to make many ſtrange and extravagant adorations. 1603, Plutarch, “Of Superstition”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 261:

Forms

Antonyms

clean · cleanse

Deriveds

begrimed · begrimer · begriming

Relateds

grimy · grime

Synonyms

befile · scunge · blacken · gunk up · tarnish · smear · sullow · soil · contaminate · smutch · foul · defile · soss · besmirch · bedizen · assoil · inquinate · beshit · slotter · dirten · blot · besully · slur · file · bewray · stain · sling mud · befilth · elt · smut · sully · uggle · beclart · spot · blur · dirty · bedirty · sowl · befoul · gunk · smudge · imbrue (especially with blood) · foil · smirch · bedaub · clat · besmear · darken · begrime · beray

Translations (16)

ca ensutzar (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · uk брудни́ти (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · pl zszargać (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · pl zabrudzić (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · fi liata (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · gv sollee (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · fi sotkea (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · pl szargać (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · ro a mânji (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · pl ubrudzić (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · pl zabrudzać (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · pl pobrudzić (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · fi skeidata (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · pl brudzić (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · bg изцапвам (to make (something) dirty — see also soil) · ca sollar (to make (something) dirty — see also soil)