besully en · VERB
Etymology
From Middle English bisulien, from Old English besylian (“to soil, stain”), equivalent to be- + sully.
Meanings
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(transitive) To make sullied or soiled; defile.
Let us avoid them as we would those emissaries of Satan whose glory is to wither piety, to blot out godliness from the ... who would extinguish the “Light of the Week”—who would besully the “Pearl of Days”—[…]
1865, Robert Gillan, The Decalogue: a Series of Discourses on the Ten Commandments:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| besullying | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| besullied | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| besullied | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| besullies | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |
Synonyms
blot · soil · befile · smirch · gunk · begrime · assoil · sullow · befilth · sully · smut · blemish · defile · dirten · imbrue (especially with blood) · file · inquinate · dirty · besully · uggle · foil · stain · befoul · bedirty · blur · scunge · darken · gunk up · sowl · soss · spot · slur · bedirty · clat · besmirch · beclart · elt · foul · contaminate · smudge · sully · bedizen · sling mud · beray · tarnish · bedaub · befile · smutch · smear · besmear · bewray · slotter · beshit · blacken