daub
Americanverb (used with object)
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daubs,
present (3rd person singular)
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daubed,
past participle, past
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daubing
present participle
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to cover or coat with soft, adhesive matter, as plaster or mud.
to daub a canvas with paint; to daub stone walls with mud.
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to spread (plaster, mud, etc.) on or over something.
to daub plaster on a brick wall.
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to smear, soil, or defile.
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to apply, as paint or colors, unskillfully.
verb (used without object)
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daubs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
daubed,
past participle, past
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daubing
present participle
-
to daub something.
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to paint unskillfully.
noun
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material, especially of an inferior kind, for daubing walls.
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something daubed on.
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an act of daubing.
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a crude, inartistic painting.
verb
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(tr) to smear or spread (paint, mud, etc), esp carelessly
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(tr) to cover or coat (with paint, plaster, etc) carelessly
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to paint (a picture) clumsily or badly
noun
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an unskilful or crude painting
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something daubed on, esp as a wall covering See also wattle and daub
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a smear (of paint, mud, etc)
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the act of daubing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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daubsimple
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daubssimple
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have daubedperfect
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has daubedperfect
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am daubingprogressive
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are daubingprogressive
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is daubingprogressive
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have been daubingperfect progressive
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has been daubingperfect progressive
Past
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daubedsimple
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had daubedperfect
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was daubingprogressive
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were daubingprogressive
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had been daubingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of daub
1275–1325; (v.) Middle English dauben < Anglo-French, Old French dauber to whiten, paint < Latin dealbāre, equivalent to de-, prevocalic variant of dē- de- + albāre to whiten, derivative of albus white; (noun) late Middle English, derivative of the v.
Explanation
Whenever you smear something on a surface, you are daubing. Abstract Expressionists may have been able to daub a canvas with paint and sell it for millions, but you probably wouldn’t be so lucky. Daub can be used as a verb or as a noun, and is derived from the Old French debaur which comes from the Latin dealbare “to whiten.” It is also used to describe the process of covering a surface with an adhesive substance such as plaster, mud or grease. However, in its noun form, it means a smear of something. When you are ordering "a bagel with a smear," you could impress the guy at the deli by asking for "a daub" instead.
Vocabulary lists containing daub
Stroke of Genius: Words About Painting
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The Odyssey
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"Daedalus and Icarus"
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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.
See Examples For:
He is a pliant enough actor to daub each portrait with just enough psychological color.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026
Celebrants daub each other with vividly colored powders.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 15, 2022
Pour some coffee and daub a toasted muffin with planetary jam: It’s breakfast with the planets.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 26, 2022
There’s a daub of blue paint in one corner, which he squished into the surface over a background of very, very light colors, and he’s painted the word “photo” above it.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2022
It makes the stone houses drip and the wattle and daub houses look soggy.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
Mottled green daubs represent grass; lounging amoebic growths stand in for rocks, perhaps mountain peaks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
After another row or two, Daignault’s canvases become increasingly abstract, finally dissolving into blurred daubs of color against black fields.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024
That incident aside, the only minor troubles Cathala can remember from his 28 years as an elected official are a few “very rare” trash fires and occasional daubs of graffiti.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2023
The algorithm-driven daubs of pastel color, although they never cohere into legible images, “explore the heritage of landscape painting,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2022
The kid had an “honest-to-God genius” for spotting, amid the roadside rocks and grassy rubble, and the brown glow of thrown-away beer bottles, the emerald daubs that had once held 7-Up and Canada Dry.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
Martine Letterie, one of the campaign's organisers, said concentration camps were increasingly the target of vandalism, including far-right imagery daubed on sites.
From Barron's ● Mar. 19, 2026
Taking her phone from her pocket she shows me pictures of the black and white IS flag, newly daubed on one of the walls of the camp.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2026
On the front steps, insults daubed in spray paint were directed at both Mayor Karen Bass and President Trump.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2025
It is next to a wall daubed with arrows pointing to the "emergency room" as well as "the road to death" - humour even darker than this room.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2024
And yet, I perceived that the young 24-06, denied most materials for expression, daubed pictures upon his master’s shoes.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
The series famously concluded with Jimmy Corkhill, played by the late Dean Sullivan, daubing a letter "d" on to the sign, leaving it as "Brookside Closed" before driving out of the cul-de-sac.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025
Punishment was swiftly meted out for any public expression of Ukrainian patriotism — displaying a flag, singing a national ballad, daubing a bit of blue-and-yellow graffiti.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
Several times he said that he had finished, but after pausing a few seconds, he would return to the canvas, daubing and smudging and spilling again.
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2022
Bright paintings adorn many buildings in the neigbourhood and workers are busy daubing steps and stone walls in cheerful hues of yellow and orange.
From Reuters ● Nov. 10, 2021
I wasn’t sure how he was going to get his boots back on, even after daubing the worst of the blisters with a paste made of baking soda.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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.
