daub
noun
- used in wattle and daub construction
verb
- apply paste or similar material
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /dɔːb/ / /dɔb/ / /dɑb/
name
Etymology: * As a German and Jewish surname, variant of Taube, occupational surname from the noun meaning "pigeon, dove." * As a south German surname, from the adjective taub (“deaf”).
- A surname.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English daub (noun), from Middle English dauben (“to plaster or whitewash; cover with clay; bespatter”, verb), from Old Northern French dauber (“to whitewash; plaster”), of uncertain origin. Probably from Latin dealbāre (“to whiten thoroughly”), which would make it a doublet of dealbate.
- Excrement or clay used as a bonding material in construction.
- A soft coating of mud, plaster, etc.
- A crude or amateurish painting.
“Ah, but what if he penned what in the art schools they call an 'artist's statement' wherein he explained the relation of his gibberish or his daubs to the mainstream of art or writing?”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English daub (noun), from Middle English dauben (“to plaster or whitewash; cover with clay; bespatter”, verb), from Old Northern French dauber (“to whitewash; plaster”), of uncertain origin. Probably from Latin dealbāre (“to whiten thoroughly”), which would make it a doublet of dealbate.
- To apply (something) to a surface in hasty or crude strokes.
“The artist just seemed to daub on paint at random and suddenly there was a painting.”
“[…] she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch […]”
- To paint (a picture, etc.) in a coarse or unskilful manner.
“[…] a lame, imperfect Piece, rudely daub’d over with too little Reflection and too much haste.”
“If a Picture is daub’d with many bright and glaring Colours, the vulgar Eye admires it as an excellent Piece […]”
- To cover with a specious or deceitful exterior; to disguise; to conceal.
“So smooth he daub’d his vice with show of virtue,”
“No flattering praises daub my stone, My frailties and my faults to hide;”
- To flatter excessively or grossly.
“I can safely say, however, that without any daubing at all, I am, very sincerely, Your very affectionate, humble servant,”
- To put on without taste; to deck gaudily.
“1697, John Dryden, “On the Three Dukes killing the Beadle on Sunday Morning, Febr. the 26th, 1670/1” in John Denham et al., Poems on affairs of state from the time of Oliver Cromwell, to the abdication of K. James the Second, London, p. 148, Yet shall Whitehall the Innocent, the Good, See these men dance all daub’d with Lace and Blood.”
“[…] whenever they came in order to pay those islanders a visit, [they] were generally very well dressed, and very poor, daubed with lace, but all the gilding on the outside.”
- To mark spots on a bingo card, using a dauber.