sully

6 definitions found

sully - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Sully \Sul"ly\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sullied; p. pr. & vb. n.
     Sullying.] [OE. sulien, AS. sylian, fr. sol mire; akin to
     G. suhle mire, sich, s["u]hlen to wallow, Sw. s["o]la to
     bemire, Dan. s["o]le, Goth. bisaulijan to defile.]
     To soil; to dirty; to spot; to tarnish; to stain; to darken;
     -- used literally and figuratively; as, to sully a sword; to
     sully a person's reputation.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Statues sullied yet with sacrilegious smoke.
                                                    --Roscommon.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           No spots to sully the brightness of this solemnity.
                                                    --Atterbury.
     [1913 Webster]

  Sully \Sul"ly\, v. i.
     To become soiled or tarnished.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Silvering will sully and canker more than gilding.
                                                    --Bacon.
     [1913 Webster]

  Sully \Sul"ly\, n.; pl. Sullies.
     Soil; tarnish; stain.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           A noble and triumphant merit breaks through little
           spots and sullies in his reputation.     --Spectator.
     [1913 Webster]

sully - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Sully
      n 1: United States painter (born in England) of portraits and
           historical scenes (1783-1872) [syn: Sully, Thomas Sully
           ]
      2: French statesman (1560-1641) [syn: Sully, Duc de Sully,
         Maxmilien de Bethune]
      v 1: place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; "sully someone's
           reputation" [syn: defile, sully, corrupt, taint,
           cloud]
      2: make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used
         metaphorically; "The silver was tarnished by the long
         exposure to the air"; "Her reputation was sullied after the
         affair with a married man" [syn: tarnish, stain,
         maculate, sully, defile]
      3: charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name
         and reputation of someone; "The journalists have defamed me!"
         "The article in the paper sullied my reputation" [syn:
         defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate,
         calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch]

sully - U.S. Gazetteer (1990) :

  Sully, IA (city, FIPS 76035)
    Location: 41.57864 N, 92.84646 W
    Population (1990): 841 (333 housing units)
    Area: 1.0 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
    Zip code(s): 50251

sully - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  83 Moby Thesaurus words for "sully":
     abuse, attaint, bedaub, befoul, benasty, besmear, besmirch,
     besmutch, besoil, bespatter, betray, black, blacken, blemish, blot,
     blow upon, brand, call names, censure, contaminate, corrupt, daub,
     debauch, deceive, defame, defile, deflower, demoralize, denigrate,
     despoil, destroy, dirty, disapprove, discolor, disgrace, disparage,
     engage in personalities, expose, expose to infamy, force, foul,
     gibbet, hang in effigy, heap dirt upon, infect, lead astray, mar,
     mess, mess up, mislead, muckrake, nasty, pillory, pollute, rape,
     ravage, ravish, reprimand, revile, ruin, seduce, shame, slubber,
     slur, smear, smirch, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, spoil,
     spot, stain, stigmatize, taint, tar, tarnish, throw mud at, vilify,
     violate, vitiate, wreck