bedaub

[ bih-dawb ]

verb (used with object)

1. to smear all over; besmear; soil.
2. to ornament gaudily or excessively.

bedaub

/ bɪˈdɔːb /

verb

1. to smear all over with something thick, sticky, or dirty
2. to ornament in a gaudy or vulgar fashion

Other Words From

• unbe·daubed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bedaub¹

First recorded in 1545–55; be- + daub

Example Sentences

Our pessimist frauds and the Ibsensite pack Will groan as they thickly bedaub it in black.

From Project Gutenberg

He might certainly have given us less of the typographical tricks with which he chose to bedizen and bedaub it, and sometimes in his ultra-Rabelaisian moods—I do not mean of gauloiserie but of sheer fooling—we feel the falsetto rather disastrously.

From Project Gutenberg

Bedaub foul designs with a fair varnish.

From Project Gutenberg

To plaster over; to cover or smear thickly; to bedaub.

From Project Gutenberg

To cover with dung, as for manuring; to bedaub or defile, literally or figuratively.

From Project Gutenberg