different between stair vs blemish

English

Etymology

From Middle English steire, staire, stayre, stayer, steir, steyre, steyer, from Old English st??er (“stair, staircase”), from Proto-Germanic *staigriz (“stairs, scaffolding”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyg?- (“to walk, proceed, march, climb”). Cognate with Dutch steiger (“a stair, step, wharf, pier, scaffolding”), Middle Low German steiger, steir (“scaffolding”), German Low German Steiger (“a scaffold; trestle”). Related to Old English ?st??an (“to ascend, go up, embark”), Old English st??an (“to go, move, reach; ascend, mount, go up, spring up, rise; scale”), German Stiege (“a flight of stairs”). More at sty.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /st???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /st??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: stare

Noun

stair (plural stairs)

1. A single step in a staircase.

   Synonym: step

2. A series of steps; a staircase.

Synonyms

• (Cockney rhyming slang) apples and pears

Usage notes

• Stairs and stair are used to refer to a single staircase, mostly interchangeably in the UK.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ladder
• landing

Anagrams

• ISTAR, Ritsa, Sarti, airts, arist, astir, sitar, stria, tarsi, tiars, tisar

Irish

Etymology

From Latin historia. Doublet of stór.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [s?t??a??]

Noun

stair f (genitive singular staire, nominative plural startha)

1. history
2. account, story
3. (literary) repute, fame

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• "stair" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Entries containing “stair” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
• Entries containing “stair” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

English

Etymology

From Middle English blemisshen, blemissen, from Old French blemiss-, stem of Old French blemir, blesmir (“make pale, injure, wound, bruise”) (French blêmir), from Old Frankish *blesmjan, *blasmijan (“to make pale”), from Old Frankish *blasmi (“pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“white, pale”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?el- (“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch bles (“white spot”), German blass (“pale”), Old English ?blered (“bare, uncovered, bald, shaven”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bl?m??/
• Hyphenation: blem?ish

Noun

blemish (plural blemishes)

1. A small flaw which spoils the appearance of something, a stain, a spot.
   • 1769, Oxford Standard Text, King James Bible, Leviticus, 22, xix,

     Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.

   • 1997, Jean Soler, 5: The Semiotics of Food in the Bible, Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik (editors), Food and Culture: A Reader, page 61,

     Any foot shape deviating from this model is conceived as a blemish, and the animal is unclean.

   • 2003, A. K. Forrest, Chapter 6: Surface Defect Detection on Ceramics, Mark Graves, Bruce Batchelor (editors), Machine Vision for the Inspection of Natural Products, page 193,

     There are a very large number of types of blemish and the smallest blemish visible to a human can be surprisingly small, for example less than 10?m deep, which may be on the surface of a heavily embossed tile.
2. A moral defect; a character flaw.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Related terms

• blemished (adjective)
• blemishless
• blemishment

Translations

Verb

blemish (third-person singular simple present blemishes, present participle blemishing, simple past and past participle blemished)

1. To spoil the appearance of.
   • 2009, Michael A. Kirkman, Chapter 2: Global Markets fo Processed Potato Products, Jaspreet Singh, Lovedeep Kaur (editors), Advances in Potato Chemistry and Technology, page 40,

     Generally, varieties in current use for processing are resilient, if not wholly resistant to blemishing diseases and disorders.

   • 2011, Rob Imrie, Emma Street, Architectural Design and Regulation, unnumbered page,

     I mean it reaches a point of ridiculousness in some regards, and one?s seen actually many good schemes here in San Francisco, for example, that have been blemished by an overly strict adherence to codes.

2. To tarnish (reputation, character, etc.); to defame.
   • 1600, Francis Vere, Commentaries of the Divers Pieces of Service

     There had nothing passed betwixt us that might blemish reputation.

Translations