different between bemire vs tarnish

English

Etymology

From Middle English *bemyren (possibly attested in Middle English bemyred), equivalent to be- (“all over”) +? mire.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b??ma??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /b??ma???/

Verb

bemire (third-person singular simple present bemires, present participle bemiring, simple past and past participle bemired)

1. (archaic) To soil with mud or a similar substance.
   • 1603, John Davies, The Discovery of the Little World, with the Government Thereof, Oxford, p. 118,^[1]

     The Minde, constrain’d the Bodies want to feele,

     Makes Salves of Earth the Bodies hurt to heale,

     Which doe the Mind bemire with thoughts vnfitt;

   • 1684, Nahum Tate (translator), “The Second Eclogue” in John Dryden (ed.), Miscellany Poems, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 13,^[2]

     Ah me! while I fond wretch indulge my Dreams,

     Winds blast my Flow’rs, and Boars bemire my Streams.

   • 1726, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, London: Benjamin Motte, Part II, Chapter 5, pp. 99-100,^[3]

     There was a Cow-Dung in the Path, and I must needs try my Activity by attempting to leap over it. I took a Run, but unfortunately jumped short, and found my self just in the Middle up to my Knees. I waded through with some Difficulty, and one of the Footmen wiped me as clean as he could with his Handkerchief; for I was filthily bemired […]

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter 29,^[4]

     I wished to rise; but what could I put on? Only my damp and bemired apparel; in which I had slept on the ground and fallen in the marsh.

2. (archaic) To immerse or trap in mire.
   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, London: Nath. Ponder, pp. 13-14,^[5],[6]

     True, there are by the direction of the Law-giver, certain good and subs[tantial] Steps, placed even through the very midst of this Slough; but at such a time as this place doth much spue out [its filth] as it doth against change of weather, these steps are hardly seen; or if they be, Men through the diziness of their heads, step besides; and then they are bemired to purpose, notwithstanding the steps be there […]

   • 1802, Rembrandt Peale, Account of the Skeleton of the Mammoth, a Non-Descript Carnivorous Animal of Immense Size Found in America, London, p. 38,^[7]

     In two of the morasses there was not depth sufficient to have bemired an animal of such magnitude and strength […]

   • 1888, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow, Book I, Chapter 2,^[8]

     I saw your horse bemired, and put him from his agony; which, by my sooth! an ye had been a more merciful rider, ye had done yourself.

   • 1912, Alice C. Thompson, The Good Old Days: A Comedy in One Act, Philadelphia: Penn Publishing, p. 9,^[9]

     Likely the stage-coach is bemired. The roads at this season of the year are none too good.

3. (figuratively) To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.

Anagrams

• berime, bireme

English

Etymology

From Middle English ternysshen, a borrowing from Old French terniss-, stem of ternir (“to make dim, make wan”), borrowed from Frankish *darnijan (“to conceal”). Doublet of dern and darn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??n??/

Noun

tarnish (usually uncountable, plural tarnishes)

1. Oxidation or discoloration, especially of a decorative metal exposed to air.
   • 1918, Hannah Teresa Rowley, Mrs. Helen Louise (Wales) Farrell, Principles of Chemistry Applied to the Household

     Precipitated calcium carbonate, a very fine powdery form, is used as a basis for many tooth powders and pastes. As whiting it finds a wide use in cleaning metals of their tarnishes.

Translations

Verb

tarnish (third-person singular simple present tarnishes, present participle tarnishing, simple past and past participle tarnished)

1. (intransitive) To oxidize or discolor due to oxidation.

2. (transitive) To compromise, damage, soil, or sully.

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To lose its lustre or attraction; to become dull.

Translations

Anagrams

• Hartins, rantish