blot
noun
- laboratory technique used in molecular biology and genetics
verb
- obscure with a layer of ink
- soak up ink from words written with fountain pen
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /blɒt/ / /blɑt/
noun
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”).
- 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.”
“When I and some others subscribed our names / To a plot for expelling my master king James [James II of England]; / I withdrew my subscription by help of a blot, / And so might discover or gain by the plot: […]”
- A stain on someone's reputation or character; a disgrace.
“Thy ouerflow of good, conuerts to bad, / And thy abundant goodneſſe ſhall excuſe / This deadly blot, in thy digreſſing ſonne.”
“He that reproueth a ſcorner, getteth to himſelfe ſhame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man, getteth himſelfe a blot.”
- A method of transferring proteins, DNA or RNA, onto a carrier.
- An exposed piece in backgammon.
verb
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”).
- To cause a blot (on something) by spilling a coloured substance.
- To soak up or absorb liquid.
“This paper blots easily.”
- To dry (writing, etc.) with blotting paper.
- To spot, stain, or bespatter, as with ink.
“The briefe was writte and blotted all with gore,[…]”
- To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil.
“It blots thy beautie, as froſts doe bite the Meads,[…]”
- To stain with infamy; to disgrace.
“Blot not thy Innocence with guiltleſs Blood.”
- To obliterate, as writing with ink; to cancel; to efface; generally with out.
“to blot out a word or a sentence”
“One act like this blots out a thouſand Crimes.”
- To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow.
“He ſung how Earth blots the Moons gilded Wane,[…]”
- To sell illegal drugs, to deal, to push.
“I'm walking down the street, past the coppers on the beat. Past the shotters blottin' weed, clear for everyone to see.”
“What kind of things that you have. When I find out don't expect me to stop. I'll come for the P's that you stack. And come for the food that you blot.”
- To hit a blot.