Meaning of SULLY
| Pronunciation: | | 'sulee, 'sulee
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 WordNet Dictionary |
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- [n] French statesman (1560-1641)
- [n] United States painter (born in England) of portraits and historical scenes (1783-1872)
- [v] charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone; "The journalists have defamed me!" "The article in the paper sullied my reputation"
- [v] make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air, of metals; also used metaphorically; "The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air"; "Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man"
- [v] place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; "sully someone's reputation"
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| | Synonyms: | | asperse, besmirch, calumniate, cloud, corrupt, defame, defile, denigrate, Duc de Sully, maculate, Maxmilien de Bethune, slander, smear, smirch, taint, tarnish, Thomas Sully |
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| | See Also: | | accuse, assassinate, badmouth, blob, blot, charge, darken, deflower, drag through the mud, fleck, impair, libel, malign, mar, national leader, painter, solon, spoil, spot, statesman, traduce, vitiate | |
| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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\Sul"ly\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Sullied}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Sullying}.] [OE. sulien, AS. sylian, fr. sol mire; akin to
G. suhle mire, sich, s["u]hlen to wallow, Sw. s["o]la to
bemire, Dan. s["o]le, Goth. bisaulijan to defile.]
To soil; to dirty; to spot; to tarnish; to stain; to darken;
-- used literally and figuratively; as, to sully a sword; to
sully a person's reputation.
Statues sullied yet with sacrilegious smoke.
--Roscommon.
No spots to sully the brightness of this solemnity.
--Atterbury.
\Sul"ly\, v. i.
To become soiled or tarnished.
Silvering will sully and canker more than gilding.
--Bacon.
\Sul"ly\, n.; pl. {Sullies}.
Soil; tarnish; stain.
A noble and triumphant merit breaks through little
spots and sullies in his reputation. --Spectator.
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