Meanings
present singular third person bedaubs · participle present bedaubing · participle past bedaubed · past bedaubed · alternative bedawb
- transitiveTo smear upon; to soil.
In this 6 mile we Crosst several miring branches in which we were all terribly bedaubed … Having almost spent the day in this toilsome tho short Journey.
2009, Noeleen McIlvenna, quoting journal, 1711, A Very Mutinous People, Univ of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 18Synonyms: bedirty, befoul, sully, assoil, beclart, bedirty, imbrue (especially with blood), bedizen
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo smear upon; to soil.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindealbō“whiten over, plaster”
- Old Frenchdauber“to plaster, whitewash”
- Englishbedaub
From be- (“thoroughly, extensively”) + daub, from Old French dauber (“to plaster, whitewash”), from Latin dealbō (“whiten over, plaster”).
More words from Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian изцапвам
- изцапвам (izcapvam)to smear upon; to soil
Finnish liata, tahria
- liatato smear upon; to soil
- tahriato smear upon; to soil
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bedaub
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
bedaub. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedaub
“bedaub.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedaub. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bedaub,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedaub.
Source: bedaub on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.