sully
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsʌli/
rhymes: -ʌli
Forms: form: sullies
form: sullying
form: sullied
form: sullied
form: sullow
Etymology: From Middle English sulen, sulien (“to become dirty; to defile, pollute, taint”), from Old English sylian (“to soil, pollute; to sully”), from Proto-West Germanic *sulwōn, *sulwijan (“to make dirty; to sully”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid, muck”), perhaps conflated partially with Old French souillier (“to soil”) (modern French souiller) from the same Germanic source. The word is cognate with Danish søle (“to sully”), West Flemish seulewen (“to sully”) (Middle Dutch soluwen (“to sully”)), German sühlen (“to sully”), Old Saxon sulian (“to sully”), Swedish söla (“to sully”). Also compare Middle English sulpen (“to defile, pollute”), Old English solian (“to soil, become defiled, make or become foul”), and see more at soil.
Senses: examples: text: He did not wish to sully his hands with gardening.
text: THoſe Ills your Anceſtors have done, / Romans, are now become your own ; / And they will coſt you dear, / Unleſs you ſoon repair / The falling Temples which the Gods provoke, / And Statues ſully’d yet with Sacrilegious Smoke.
ref: 1672, The Earl of Roscommon [Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon], “The Sixth Ode, of the Third Book of Horace”, in Poems by the Earl of Roscomon, London: J[acob] Tonson, published 1717, page 153, lines 1–6:
text: His nether garment was of yellow nankeen, closely fitted to the shape, and tied at his bunches of knees by large knots of white ribbon, a good deal sullied by use.
ref: 1826, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter I, in The Last of the Mohicans; a Narrative of 1757. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea— […], →OCLC, page 10:
synonyms: word: sowl
glosses: To soil or stain; to dirty.
examples: text: She tried to sully her rival’s reputation with a suggestive comment.
text: Ken Starr would later conclude that it was a mistake for him to expand into the Monica Lewinsky matter, largely because of the disastrous impact it would have on his Whitewater/Madison investigation and in sullying his otherwise sterling professional reputation.
ref: 2010, Ken Gormley, “One Nation Divided”, in The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers, →ISBN, page 431:
text: As a child, Jane [Eyre] is completely bereft of love, living a loveless existence, which sullies her character. Her emotions are raw and, on the surface, completely out of control.
ref: 2014, Dedra Mcdonald Birzer, “To Delight in Sacrifice: True Love in Jane Eyre”, in Charlotte Brontë, edited by Jill Kriegel, Jane Eyre: With an Introduction and Contemporary Criticism (Ignatius Critical Editions), San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press, →ISBN, page 569:
glosses: To corrupt or damage.
examples: text: [G]old bears the fire, which ſilver doth not: but that is an excellency in nature, but it is nothing at all in uſe; for any dignity in uſe I know none, but that ſilvering will ſully and canker more than gilding; […]
ref: 1730, Francis Bacon, “The Lord Bacon’s Questions, with Dr. Meverel’s Solutions, Concerning the Compounding, Incorporating, or Union of Metals or Minerals; which Subject is the First Letter of His Lordship’s Alphabet”, in The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England, volume III, London: J. and J. Knapton [et al.], →OCLC, page 215:
glosses: To become soiled or tarnished.
Coordinate terms: sense: to corrupt or damage
word: besmirch
sense: to corrupt or damage
word: debase
sense: to corrupt or damage
word: stain
sense: to corrupt or damage
word: tarnish
Derived terms: besully
unsullied
unsully