bedaub
Americanverb (used with object)
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to smear all over; besmear; soil.
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to ornament gaudily or excessively.
verb
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to smear all over with something thick, sticky, or dirty
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to ornament in a gaudy or vulgar fashion
Other Word Forms
- unbedaubed adjective
Etymology
Origin of bedaub
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Demosthenes describes the mother of Æschines as a dabbler in mysteries, and tells how Æschines used to assist her by helping to bedaub the initiate with clay and bran.
From Storyology Essays in Folk-Lore, Sea-Lore, and Plant-Lore by Taylor, Benjamin
Both Greeks and savages employ the bull-roarer, both bedaub the initiated with dirt or with white paint or chalk.
From Custom and Myth by Lang, Andrew
Our pessimist frauds and the Ibsensite pack Will groan as they thickly bedaub it in black.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105, November 11, 1893 by Various
Both Greeks and savages employ the bull-roarer, both bedaub the initiated with dirt or with white paint or chalk.
From Custom and Myth New Edition by Lang, Andrew
Does any one bedaub his friends with flattery?
From The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athen?us by Athen?us
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
