different between blot vs tarnish

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): /bl?t/
• Rhymes: -?t
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bl?t/

Noun

blot (plural blots)

1. A blemish, spot or stain made by a coloured substance.
   • 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:

   • 1918, Siegfried Sassoon, “The Death-Bed” in The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, London: Heinemann, p. 95,^[1]

     […] 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.

2. (by extension) A stain on someone's reputation or character; a disgrace.
3. (biochemistry) A method of transferring proteins, DNA or RNA, onto a carrier.
4. (backgammon) An exposed piece in backgammon.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

1. (transitive) to cause a blot (on something) by spilling a coloured substance.
2. (intransitive) to soak up or absorb liquid.

   This paper blots easily.

3. (transitive) To dry (writing, etc.) with blotting paper.
4. (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, […]

5. (transitive) To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil.
6. (transitive) To stain with infamy; to disgrace.
   • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert

     Blot not thy Innocence with guiltle?s Blood.

7. (transitive) To obliterate, as writing with ink; to cancel; to efface; generally with out.

   to blot out a word or a sentence
8. (transitive) To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow.
   • 1656, Abraham Cowley, Davideis

     He ?ung how Earth blots the Moons gilded Wane, […]

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Bolt, bolt

Danish

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?l?d?]

Adjective

blot (plural and definite singular attributive blotte)

1. (dated) mere, very

Adverb

blot

1. (slightly formal) only, merely

Synonyms

• kun, bare

Etymology 2

Borrowed Old Norse blót, from Proto-Germanic *bl?t?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?lo?d?]

Noun

blot

1. a sacrifice (especially a blood sacrifice by heathens)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?l?d?]

Verb

blot

1. imperative of blotte

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?lo?d?]

Verb

blot

1. imperative of blote

Low German

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?blo??t]

Adverb

blot

1. 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

1. neuter nominative of blo
2. neuter accusative of blo

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bl?t?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blo?t/

Noun

bl?t n

1. a sacrifice, especially a blood sacrifice by heathens

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