blemish
noun
- act or process of damaging, disfiguring
verb
- To mar, spoil, or injure the working of.
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈblɛmɪʃ/
noun
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 *blesmijan, *blasmijan (“to make pale”), from Old Frankish *blasmī (“pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“white, pale”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch bles (“white spot”), German blass (“pale”), Old English āblered (“bare, uncovered, bald, shaven”).
- A small flaw which spoils the appearance of something, a stain, a spot.
“Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.”
“Any foot shape deviating from this model is conceived as a blemish, and the animal is unclean.”
- A moral defect; a character flaw.
“As piety is the peculiar ornament of old people, so the want of it is a peculiar blemish in their character.”
“The processes of categorization, stereotyping, discrimination, and self-fulfilling prophecy can also apply to stigmas based on blemishes of individual character.”
verb
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 *blesmijan, *blasmijan (“to make pale”), from Old Frankish *blasmī (“pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“white, pale”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch bles (“white spot”), German blass (“pale”), Old English āblered (“bare, uncovered, bald, shaven”).
- To spoil the appearance of.
“we see ordinarie examples by this licence which wonderfully blemisheth the authoritie and lustre of our law, never to stay upon one sentence, but to run from one to another judge, to decide one same case.”
“Generally, varieties in current use for processing are resilient, if not wholly resistant to blemishing diseases and disorders.”
- To tarnish (reputation, character, etc.); to defame.
“There had nothing passed betwixt us that might blemish reputation.”