begrime
English
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
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bɪˈɡɹaɪm/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /bəˈɡɹaɪm/
- Rhymes: -aɪm
- Hyphenation: be‧grime
Verb
begrime (third-person singular simple present begrimes, present participle begriming, simple past and past participle begrimed)
- (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 1051546006, 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 606515358, [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 85795677, 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 643850556, 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 505127029, Act III, scene iii, footnote z, page 152:
- collowest] i.e. begrimest, blackenest: […] Collow is smut from burnt coals.
- ]
Conjugation
Conjugation of begrime
| infinitive | (to) begrime | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | begrime | begrimed | |
| 2nd-person singular | |||
| 3rd-person singular | begrimes | ||
| plural | begrime | ||
| subjunctive | begrime | begrimed | |
| imperative | begrime | — | |
| participles | begriming | begrimed | |
Derived terms
- begrimed (adjective)
- begrimer
- begriming (noun)
Related terms
- grime
- grimy
Translations
to ingrain grime or dirt which is difficult to remove into (something)
to make (something) dirty — See also translations at soil
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References
- “begrime, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2018; “begrime, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
dirt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia