begrime

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English

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WOTD – 16 February 2022

Etymology

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A pair of gardening gloves begrimed with soil.

From be- (prefix meaning ‘about; abundantly; all around; all over’) +‎ grime (“to cake with dirt”).[1]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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begrime (third-person singular simple present begrimes, present participle begriming, simple past and past participle begrimed)

  1. (transitive) To ingrain grime or dirt which is difficult to remove into (something); also (more generally), to make (something) dirty; to soil.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dirty
    Antonyms: see Thesaurus:make clean
    • 1603, Plutarch, “Of Superstition”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 261:
      [U]pon a vaine and fooliſh ſuperſtition, enjoining men to begrime and beray themſelves with durt, to lie and vvallovv in the mire, to obſerve Sabbaths and ceaſe from vvorke, to lie proſtrate and groveling upon the earth with the face dovvnevvard, to ſit upon the ground in open place, and to make many ſtrange and extravagant adorations.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 326, column 1:
      My name that vvas as freſh / As Dians Viſage, is novv begrim'd and blacke / As mine ovvne face.
    • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, chapter VII, in The Partisan: A Tale of the Revolution. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 78:
      The smoke of the pine-wood fires which at night were kept continually burning around them. This had most effectually begrimed their features, and their dresses had not scrupled to partake of the same colouring.
    • 1837, “an old forest ranger”, “The Great Western Jungle”, in Theodore Hook, editor, The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, volume LI, part 3, number CCIII, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 338:
      [H]e should forthwith reform his manners, purify himself, and discontinue the vile, filthy habit of snuff-taking—a habit which, to use her own words, begrimeth the face, spoileth the form of the nose—Heaven bless the mark!—destroyeth the voice, and eventually undermineth the constitution.
    • [1840, Alexander Dyce, “The Family of Love”, in Thomas Middleton, The Works of Thomas Middleton, […], volume II, London: Edward Lumley, →OCLC, act III, scene iii, page 152, footnote z:
      collowest] i.e. begrimest, blackenest: […] Collow is smut from burnt coals.
      The play was originally attributed to Middleton, but Lording Barry, Thomas Dekker, and John Marston have also been suggested as authors.]

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “begrime, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2018; “begrime, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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