Etymology

besully

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Today it means: To make sullied or soiled; defile. Full definition →

Middle English bisulien ← Old English besylian
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited frombesylian“to soil, stain”
  2. Middle English · inherited frombisulien
  3. English todaybesully

From Middle English bisulien, from Old English besylian (“to soil, stain”), equivalent to be- + sully.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.