Bespawl
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To daub, make foul, or soil (someone or something) with spawl or spittle. obsolete, transitive
"[T]each thy Incubus to Poëtize, / And throvve abroad thy ſpurious Snotteries, / Vpon that puft-up Lumpe of Barmy froth, / […] / Or Clumſy Chil-blain'd Iudgement; that, vvith Oath, / Magnificates his Merit; and beſpaules / The conſcious Time, vvith humorous Fome; & bravvles, / As if his Organons of Senſe vvould crack / The ſinevves of my Patience."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"[T]each thy Incubus to Poëtize, / And throvve abroad thy ſpurious Snotteries, / Vpon that puft-up Lumpe of Barmy froth, / […] / Or Clumſy Chil-blain'd Iudgement; that, vvith Oath, / Magnificates his Merit; and beſpaules / The conſcious Time, vvith humorous Fome; & bravvles, / As if his Organons of Senſe vvould crack / The ſinevves of my Patience."
Etymology
From be- (prefix meaning ‘about; around’) + spawl (“to scatter spittle from the mouth, spit”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.