befoulv.
/bɪˈfaʊl/ transitive. To make foul, cover with filth or dirt; often of moral filth; esp. in the proverbial to befoul one's own nest.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirty [verb (transitive)]
uncleanseOE
horyc1200
befoulc1320
behorewe1340
file1340
flobber1377
smatterc1386
foulc1400
slurryc1440
filtha1450
sowla1450
sollc1480
bawdy1495
squagea1500
arrayc1525
ray1526
bawdc1529
beray1530
filthify1545
belime1555
soss1557
embroyn1566
dirt1570
filthy1581
turpifya1586
dirty1591
muck1618
bedirt1622
bedirty1623
smooch1631
dight1632
fewma1637
snuddle1661
bepaw1684
puddle1698
nasty1707
muddify1739
scavenger1806
mucky1828
squalidize1837
mullock1861
muddy1893
c1320 Cast. Love 1147 Al was his face bi-foulet wt spot.
c1430 Syr Gener. 4610 The last he fond Darel Al be~fouled in the grauel.
a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Ciii I be foule his pate.
1721 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius 8 Jan. It's an ill Bird that befouls his own Nest.
1844 T. B. Macaulay Earl of Chatham in Ess. (ed. 3) Fox had stumbled in the mire, and had not only been defeated but befouled.
Derivatives
beˈfouler n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > pollution or defilement > [noun] > one who pollutes or defiles
polluter1551
bumfiddler1611
berayer1699
befouler1842
1842 Ld. Jeffrey in Select. from Corr. M. Napier (1879) 388 A befouler of his own nest.
beˈfoulment n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > [noun] > dirtying
imbruingc1475
befoulment1862
1862 F. Hall tr. N. N. Gore Rational Refut. Hindu Philos. Syst. 272 The ignorant..think the blueness of the sky to be the befoulment of ether.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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