blot

See also: blod, Blot, blót, blöt, blöd, bløt, blóð, and błot

English

Etymology

From Middle English blot (“blot, spot, stain, blemish”). Perhaps from Old Norse *blettr (“blot, stain”) (only attested in documents from after Old Norse transitioned to Icelandic blettur), or from Old French bloche (“clod of earth”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /blɒt/
Rhymes: -ɒt
(General American) IPA^(key): /blɑt/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

blot (plural blots)

A blemish, spot or stain made by a coloured substance.
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i], page 28, column 2:
  England bound in with the triumphant ſea, / Whoſe rocky ſhore beates backe the enuious ſiedge / Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with ſhame, / With Inky blottes, and rotten Parchment bonds.
- 1711, Jonathan Swift, An Excellent New Song
  I withdrew my subscription by help of a blot, / And so might discover or gain by the plot:
- 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter XVII. Somebody Turns Up.”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, OCLC 558196156, page 176:
  Her utmost powers of expression (which were certainly not great in ink) were exhausted in the attempt to write what she felt on the subject of my journey. Four sides of incoherent and interjectional beginnings of sentences, that had no end, except blots, were inadequate to afford her any relief. But the blots were more expressive to me than the best composition; for they showed me that Peggotty had been crying all over the paper, and what could I have desired more?
- 1918, Siegfried Sassoon, “The Death-Bed” in The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, London: Heinemann, p. 95,
  […] He was blind; he could not see the stars
  Glinting among the wraiths of wandering cloud;
  Queer blots of colour, purple, scarlet, green,
  Flickered and faded in his drowning eyes.
(by extension) A stain on someone's reputation or character; a disgrace.
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene iii], page 43, column 1:
  Thy ouerflow of good, conuerts to bad, / And thy abundant goodneſſe ſhall excuſe / This deadly blot, in thy digreſſing ſonne.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Proverbs 9:7, column 2:
  He that reproueth a ſcorner, getteth to himſelfe ſhame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man, getteth himſelfe a blot.
- 1785, William Cowper, “Book II. The Time-piece.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], OCLC 228757725, page 46:
  Thus man devotes his brother, and deſtroys; / And worſe than all, and moſt to be deplored / As human nature’s broadeſt, fouleſt blot, / Chains him, and taſks him, and exacts his ſweat / With ſtripes, that mercy with a bleeding heart / Weeps when ſhe ſees inflicted on a beaſt.
- 1960 February, “The dieselised St. Pancras suburban service”, in Trains Illustrated, page 95:
  The only blot on this service is that of its Kentish Town connections, which throughout the day in many cases just miss the St. Pancras-Luton stopping trains.
(biochemistry) A method of transferring proteins, DNA or RNA, onto a carrier.
(backgammon) An exposed piece in backgammon.

Derived terms

Terms derived from blot (noun)

beblot
blotless
blot on the escutcheon
blottesque
blot test
blotty
dot blot
immunoblot
inkblot
northern blot analysis
Northern blot analysis
Southern blot
Western blot
western blot analysis
Western blot analysis
zoo blot

Descendants

→ Polish: blotka

Translations

blemish, spot or stain

Bulgarian: петно (bg) (petno)
Czech: skvrna (cs) f
Danish: plet c, klat c (ink)
Dutch: vlek (nl)
Esperanto: makulo
Finnish: tahra (fi), väritahra
French: tache (fr), (ink) pâté
German: Fleck (de) m, Klecks (de) m
Ido: makulo (io)
Italian: macchia (it) f
Kyrgyz: так (ky) n (tak), төгүлгөн сыя (ky) f (tögülgön sıya)
Portuguese: mancha (pt) f, borrão (pt) m
Russian: пятно́ (ru) n (pjatnó), кля́кса (ru) f (kljáksa) (ink)
Spanish: mancha (es) f
Swedish: fläck (sv) c, plump (sv) c (usually ink), bläckplump c (ink)

stain on someone's reputation or character

Bulgarian: позор (bg) m (pozor), безчестие (bg) n (bezčestie)
Czech: skvrna (cs) f, kaňka f
Danish: plet c (on honour)
Dutch: schandvlek (nl)
Finnish: tahra (fi) (in reputation), vika (fi) (in character)
French: souillure (fr)
German: Schandfleck (de)
Kyrgyz: так (ky) n (tak), уят (ky) f (uyat)
Portuguese: mácula (pt) f
Russian: позо́р (ru) m (pozór), пятно́ (ru) n (pjatnó)
Spanish: desdoro (es) m

method of transferring proteins — see Southern blot analysis

backgammon: exposed piece

Bulgarian: гол (bg) (gol)

Verb

blot (third-person singular simple present blots, present participle blotting, simple past and past participle blotted)

(transitive) to cause a blot (on something) by spilling a coloured substance.
(intransitive) to soak up or absorb liquid.
This paper blots easily.
(transitive) To dry (writing, etc.) with blotting paper.
(transitive) To spot, stain, or bespatter, as with ink.
- 1566, George Gascoigne, Dan Bartholmew of Bath
  The briefe was writte and blotted all with gore, […]
(transitive) To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil.
- c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene ii], page 229, column 1:
  It blots thy beautie, as froſts doe bite the Meads, […]
(transitive) To stain with infamy; to disgrace.
- 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert
  Blot not thy Innocence with guiltleſs Blood.
(transitive) To obliterate, as writing with ink; to cancel; to efface; generally with out.
to blot out a word or a sentence
- 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 6484883, Act V, page 82:
  One act like this blots out a thouſand Crimes.
(transitive) To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow.
- 1656, Abraham Cowley, Davideis
  He ſung how Earth blots the Moons gilded Wane, […]

Derived terms

Terms derived from blot (verb)

blot one's copy book
blot out
blotter
blotting paper
reblot
transblot
unblotted

Translations

to cause a blot

Bulgarian: зацапвам (bg) (zacapvam), опетнявам (bg) (opetnjavam)
Czech: poskvrnit, pokaňkat, postříkat
Finnish: tahrata (fi)
French: tacher (fr)
German: beflecken (de), kleckern (de)
Italian: macchiare (it)
Portuguese: manchar (pt), borrar (pt)
Romanian: păta (ro)
Spanish: emborronar (es), manchar (es)

to absorb liquid

Bulgarian: попивам (bg) (popivam)
Czech: sát (cs) impf, nasát pf, vysát pf
Finnish: imeä (fi), imaista, imeytyä (fi)
Italian: assorbire (it)

to hide, obscure or obliterate

Bulgarian: заличавам (bg) (zaličavam)
Czech: vymazat pf
Finnish: piilotella (fi)
German: ablöschen (de)

Anagrams

Bolt, bolt

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle Low German blōt (“bare”), from Proto-Germanic *blautaz (“void, emaciated, soft”), cognate with German bloß (“bare”) and Danish blød (“soft”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈb̥lʌd̥]

Adjective

blot (plural and definite singular attributive blotte)

(dated) mere, very

Adverb

blot

(slightly formal) only, merely

Synonyms

kun, bare

Etymology 2

From Old Norse blót, from Proto-Germanic *blōtą.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈb̥loˀd̥]

Noun

blot

a sacrifice (especially a blood sacrifice by heathens)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈb̥lʌd̥]

Verb

blot

imperative of blotte

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈb̥loˀd̥]

Verb

blot

imperative of blote

Low German

Etymology

From Middle Low German blōt (“bare”), from Proto-Germanic *blautaz (“void, emaciated, soft”), cognate with German bloß (“bare”) and Danish blød (“soft”). Spelling variant of bloot.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈbloʊ̯t]

Adverb

blot

only, merely

Synonyms

blots, man

References

Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, →ISBN, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster)

Luxembourgish

Adjective

blot

neuter nominative of blo
neuter accusative of blo

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *blōtą.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bloːt/

Noun

blōt n

a sacrifice, especially a blood sacrifice by heathens
He ealle ða cuman to blote gedyde ― he gave all the strangers as a sacrifice. (Alfred's Orosius)

Declension

Declension of blot (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	blōt	blōt
accusative	blōt	blōt
genitive	blōtes	blōta
dative	blōte	blōtum

Related terms

blōtan

Swedish

Noun

blot n

a blót (heathen sacrificial ceremony)

Declension

Declension of blot
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	blot	blotet	blot	bloten
Genitive	blots	blotets	blots	blotens

References

blot in Svensk ordbok (SO)
blot in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
blot in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)