sully

Etymology

and hand have been sullied after playing with mud]] From Middle English sulen, sulien (“to become dirty; to defile, pollute, taint”), from Old English sylian (“to soil, pollute; to sully”), from Proto-West Germanic *sulwōn, *sulwijan (“to make dirty; to sully”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid, muck”), perhaps conflated partially with Old French souillier (“to soil”) (modern French souiller) from the same Germanic source. The word is cognate with Danish søle (“to sully”), West Flemish seulewen (“to sully”) (Middle Dutch soluwen (“to sully”)), German sühlen (“to sully”), Old Saxon sulian (“to sully”), Swedish söla (“to sully”). Also compare Middle English sulpen (“to defile, pollute”), Old English solian (“to soil, become defiled, make or become foul”), and see more at soil.

verb

1. (transitive) To soil or stain; to dirty.
   He did not wish to sully his hands with gardening.
   THoſe Ills your Anceſtors have done, / Romans, are now become your own ; / And they will coſt you dear, / Unleſs you ſoon repair / The falling Temples which the Gods provoke, / And Statues ſully’d yet with Sacrilegious Smoke. 1672, The Earl of Roscommon Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon], “The Sixth Ode, of the Third Book of Horace”, in Poems by the Earl of Roscomon, London: J[acob] Tonson, published 1717, lines 1–6, page 153
2. (transitive) To corrupt or damage.
   She tried to sully her rival’s reputation with a suggestive comment.
   Ken Starr would later conclude that it was a mistake for him to expand into the Monica Lewinsky matter, largely because of the disastrous impact it would have on his Whitewater/Madison investigation and in sullying his otherwise sterling professional reputation. 2010, Ken Gormley, “One Nation Divided”, in The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers, page 431
   As a child, Jane [Eyre] is completely bereft of love, living a loveless existence, which sullies her character. Her emotions are raw and, on the surface, completely out of control. 2014, Dedra Mcdonald Birzer, “To Delight in Sacrifice: True Love in Jane Eyre”, in Charlotte Brontë, edited by Jill Kriegel, Jane Eyre: With an Introduction and Contemporary Criticism (Ignatius Critical Editions), San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press, page 569
3. (intransitive, ergative) To become soiled or tarnished.
   [G]old bears the fire, which ſilver doth not: but that is an excellency in nature, but it is nothing at all in uſe; for any dignity in uſe I know none, but that ſilvering will ſully and canker more than gilding; […] 1730, Francis Bacon, “The Lord Bacon’s Questions, with Dr. Meverel’s Solutions, Concerning the Compounding, Incorporating, or Union of Metals or Minerals; which Subject is the First Letter of His Lordship’s Alphabet”, in The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England, volume III, London: J. and J. Knapton [et al.], →OCLC, page 215

noun

1. (rare, obsolete) A blemish.
   Roses, ere their crimson breast / Throws aside its green moss vest; / Young hearts, or ere toil, or care, / Or gold, has left a sully there. 9 August 1823, L. E. L., “Original Poetry. Poetical Catalogue of Pictures. Stothard’s Erato.”, in The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., number 342, London: Printed by B. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street; published for the proprietors, at the Literary Gazette Office, Strand; sold also by Bell and Bradfute, Edinburgh; John Cumming, Dublin; and all other booksellers, newsmen, &c., →OCLC, page 507, column 3