besmirch, besmirche, besmyrch, besmerch

t. [Eng. prefix be, and smirch, cognate with smear.] [SMIRCH, SMEAR.] 1. Lit.: To besmear, so as to defile, with mud, tilth, or anything similar. (Used with a material thing for the object.) "Our gayne and our gilt are all besmirch'd With rainy marching in the painful tield." Shakesp.: Hen. V., iv. 8. 2. Fig .: To defile, to soil, to put a conspicuous blot upon. (Used chiefly with what is immaterial or abstract for the object.) "Perhaps, he loves you now; And now no soil, nor cautel, doth besmirch The virtue of his will."-Shakesp: Ham, i. 3.