stain
/steɪn/ noun, verb
- noun A discolored spot or area caused by spillage or other contact with certain fluids or substances.
- noun A blemish on one's character or reputation.
- noun A substance used to soak into a surface and colour it.
- noun A reagent or dye used to stain microscope specimens so as to make some structures visible.
- noun (heraldry) One of a number of non-standard tinctures used chiefly in post-medieval heraldry, especially tenné, murrey, or sanguine.
- verb (transitive) To discolor, as by spilling or other contact with a fluid or substance. “to stain the hand with dye”
- verb To taint or tarnish someone's character or reputation
- verb To coat a surface with a stain “to stain wood with acids, coloured washes, paint rubbed in, etc.”
- verb (intransitive) To become stained; to take a stain.
- verb (transitive, cytology, histology) To treat (a microscopic specimen) with a dye, especially one that dyes specific features
- verb To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.
Synonyms
besmirch defile sully assoil beclart bedaub bedirty imbrue (especially with blood) bedizen befile befilth befoul begrime beray beshit besmear besully bewray blacken blot discoloration discolouration dirt filth grime soil grease grunge mark stigma
Etymology
From Middle English steinen, steynen (“to stain, colour, paint”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse steina (“to stain, colour, paint”), from steinn (“stone, mineral blue, colour, stain”), from Proto-Norse ᛊᛏᚨᛁᚾᚨᛉ (stainaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”). Cognate with Old English stān (“stone”). More at stone.
Replaced native Middle English wem (“spot, blemish, stain”), from Old English wamm (“spot, stain”).
In some senses, influenced by unrelated Middle English disteynen (“to discolor, remove the colour from"; literally, "de-colour”), from Anglo-Norman desteindre (“to remove the colour from, bleach”), from Old French destaindre (“to remove the color from, bleach”), from des- (“dis-, de-, un-”) + teindre (“to dye”), from Latin tingo.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To discolor by the application of foreign matter; to make foul; to spot; as, to stain the hand with dye; armor stained with blood.
- verb To color, as wood, glass, paper, cloth, or the like, by processess affecting, chemically or otherwise, the material itself; to tinge with a color or colors combining with, or penetrating, the substance; to dye; as, to stain wood with acids, colored washes, paint rubbed in, etc.; to stain glass.
- verb To give or receive a stain; to grow dim.
- noun A discoloration by foreign matter; a spot; as, a stain on a garment or cloth. Shak.
Etymology [Abbrev. fr. distain.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stain”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details