Word Direct Answers

sully

sully is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 3 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.To soil; to dirty; to spot; to tarnish; to stain; to darken; -- used literally and figuratively; as, to sully a sword; to sully a person's reputation. Statues sullied yet with sacrilegious smoke. Roscommon. No spots to sully the brightness of this solemnity. Atterbury.
  2. 2.To become soiled or tarnished. Silvering will sully and canker more than gilding. Bacon.
  3. 3.Soil; tarnish; stain. A noble and triumphant merit breaks through little spots and sullies in his reputation. Spectator.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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