sullying

Verb

sully (third-person singular simple present sullies, present participle sullying, simple past and past participle sullied)

1. (transitive) To soil or stain; to dirty.
   • He did not wish to sully his hands with gardening.

   Synonyms:

   befoul, sowl, tarnish, assoil, beclart, bedaub, bedirty, imbrue (especially with blood), bedizen, befile

2. (transitive) To corrupt or damage.
   • She tried to sully her rival’s reputation with a suggestive comment.

   Synonyms:

   besmirch, debase, stain, tarnish, assassinate, asperse, backbite, badmouth, befoul, belibel

3. (ergative, intransitive) To become soiled or tarnished.
   • [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; […]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...

See all 12 meanings of sully