Blot

/blɒt/ noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level

Definitions

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

    "England bound in with the triumphant ſea, / Whoſe rocky ſhore beates backe the enuious ſiedge / Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with ſhame, / With Inky blottes, and rotten Parchment bonds."

  2. 2
    an act that brings discredit to the person who does it wordnet
  3. 3
    A stain on someone's reputation or character; a disgrace. broadly

    "Thy ouerflow of good, conuerts to bad, / And thy abundant goodneſſe ſhall excuſe / This deadly blot, in thy digreſſing ſonne."

  4. 4
    a blemish made by dirt wordnet
  5. 5
    A method of transferring proteins, DNA or RNA, onto a carrier.
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  1. 6
    An exposed piece in backgammon.
Verb
  1. 1
    To cause a blot (on something) by spilling a coloured substance. transitive
  2. 2
    make a spot or mark onto wordnet
  3. 3
    To soak up or absorb liquid. intransitive

    "This paper blots easily."

  4. 4
    dry (ink) with blotting paper wordnet
  5. 5
    To dry (writing, etc.) with blotting paper. transitive
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  1. 6
    To spot, stain, or bespatter, as with ink. transitive

    "The briefe was writte and blotted all with gore,[…]"

  2. 7
    To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil. transitive

    "It blots thy beautie, as froſts doe bite the Meads,[…]"

  3. 8
    To stain with infamy; to disgrace. transitive

    "Blot not thy Innocence with guiltleſs Blood."

  4. 9
    To obliterate, as writing with ink; to cancel; to efface; generally with out. transitive

    "to blot out a word or a sentence"

  5. 10
    To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow. transitive

    "He ſung how Earth blots the Moons gilded Wane,[…]"

  6. 11
    To sell illegal drugs, to deal, to push. Multicultural-London-English, transitive

    "I'm walking down the street, past the coppers on the beat. Past the shotters blottin' weed, clear for everyone to see."

  7. 12
    To hit a blot. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
spotstainabsorbabsorbabsorbent paperadsorb

Example

More examples

"These factories are a blot on the landscape."

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”).

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