Dictionary

blot on the escutcheon en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) Something damaging to one's reputation.
   • The most zealous advocates of the unfortunate monarch cannot deny that this is an indelible blot on his escutcheon. 1819, Mathew Carey, chapter 6, in Vindiciæ Hibernicæ: or, Ireland Vindicated, Philadelphia: self-published, page 164:
   • He had been commissioned by Chapman & Hall to write another Christmas book—The Kickleburys on the Rhine—had received an advance payment, and with it had removed the last blot from his stepfather’s escutcheon by paying off the last instalment of his debt. 1971, G. U. Ellis, chapter 6, in Thackeray, New York: Haskell House, page 95:
   • Consequently, where the pardon became a convenient punching bag among contending Democrats, it was no blot on Ford’s escutcheon in the primary contest between Ford and Reagan. 1984, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, chapter 8, in Packaging the Presidency, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, published 1996:

Forms

Relateds

chink in the armor