different between deface vs stain

English

Etymology

From Middle English defacen, from Old French defacier, desfacier (“to mutilate, destroy, disfigure”), from des- (“away from”) (see dis-) + Vulgar Latin *facia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??fe?s/, /di??fe?s/
• Rhymes: -e?s

Verb

deface (third-person singular simple present defaces, present participle defacing, simple past and past participle defaced)

1. To damage or vandalize something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.
   • 1869: George Eliot, The Legend of Jubal

     That wondrous frame where melody began / Lay as a tomb defaced that no eye cared to scan.

2. To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value of.

   He defaced the I.O.U. notes by scrawling "void" over them.

   • 1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

     One-and-twenty worn and defaced shillings, however, were considered as equivalent to a guinea, which perhaps, indeed, was worn and defaced too, but seldom so much so.

3. (heraldry, flags) To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.

   You get the Finnish state flag by defacing the national flag with the state coat of arms placed in the middle of the cross.

Synonyms

• (damage in a conspicuous way): disfigure, mar, obliterate, scar, vandalize
• (degrade the face value): cancel, devalue, nullify, void

Derived terms

• defacement

Translations

See also

• efface

English

Etymology

From Middle English steinen, steynen (“to stain, colour, paint”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse steina (“to stain, colour, paint”), from steinn (“stone, mineral blue, colour, stain”), from Proto-Norse ??????? (stainaz), from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyh?- (“to stiffen”). Cognate with Old English st?n (“stone”). More at stone.

Replaced native Middle English wem (“spot, blemish, stain”) from Old English wem (“spot, stain”).

In some senses, influenced by unrelated Middle English disteynen (“to discolor, remove the colour from"; literally, "de-colour”), from Anglo-Norman desteindre (“to remove the colour from, bleach”), from Old French destaindre (“to remove the color from, bleach”), from des- (“dis-, de-, un-”) + teindre (“to dye”), from Latin tingo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ste?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Noun

stain (plural stains)

1. A discoloured spot or area.
2. A blemish on one's character or reputation.
3. A substance used to soak into a surface and colour it.
4. A reagent or dye used to stain microscope specimens so as to make some structures visible.
5. (heraldry) Any of a number of non-standard tinctures used in modern heraldry.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

stain (third-person singular simple present stains, present participle staining, simple past and past participle stained)

1. (transitive) To discolour.

   to stain the hand with dye

   armour stained with blood

2. To taint or tarnish someone's character or reputation
3. To coat a surface with a stain

   to stain wood with acids, coloured washes, paint rubbed in, etc.

   the stained glass used for church windows

4. (intransitive) To become stained; to take a stain.
5. (transitive, cytology) To treat (a microscopic specimen) with a dye, especially one that dyes specific features
6. To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.

   • She stains the ripest virgins of her age.

   • c. 1591-1592, Edmund Spenser, Daphnaïda. An Elegy upon the Death of the Noble and Vertuous Douglas Howard, Daughter and Heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and Wife of Arthure Gorges Esquier

     that did all other beasts in beauty stain

Translations

Anagrams

• Astin, Insta, Saint, Santi, Sinta, Tanis, Tians, antis, insta-, saint, sat in, satin, stian, tians, tisan

Gothic

Romanization

stain

1. Romanization of ????????????????????

Gutnish

Etymology

From Old Norse steinn (“stone”), from Proto-Norse ??????? (stainaz), from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”). Cognate with English stone, German Stein, Dutch steen, Danish sten, Norwegian Bokmål sten, Norwegian Nynorsk stein, Swedish sten, Faroese steinur, West Frisian stien, Low German Steen. Ultimately from Pre-Germanic *stoyh?nos, o-grade from Proto-Indo-European *steyh?- (“to stiffen”).

Noun

stain m

1. stone, rock, as material or individual piece of rock or pebble

Middle English

Adjective

stain

1. Alternative form of stonen

Westrobothnian

Etymology

From Old Norse steinn (“stone”), from Proto-Norse ??????? (stainaz), from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”). Cognate with English stone, German Stein, Dutch steen, Danish sten, Norwegian Bokmål sten, Norwegian Nynorsk stein, Swedish sten, Faroese steinur, West Frisian stien, Low German Steen. Ultimately from Pre-Germanic *stoyh?nos, o-grade from Proto-Indo-European *steyh?- (“to stiffen”).

Noun

stain m

1. stone, rock, as material or individual piece of rock or pebble

Alternative forms

• stäin
• stejn