Dictionary

besmoke en · VERB

Etymology

From Middle English besmoken, equivalent to be- + smoke. Cognate with Dutch besmoken, Middle Low German besmoken.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To fill with smoke; act on with smoke; fumigate.
2. (transitive) To befoul with smoke.
   • On one side hung a very large oil-painting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the unequal cross-lights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 11:
3. (transitive) To harden or dry in smoke.

Forms