Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Stain?

\Stain\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stained}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Staining}.] [Abbrev. fr. distain.] 1. To discolor by the application of foreign matter; to make foul; to spot; as, to stain the hand with dye; armor stained with blood. 2. To color, as wood, glass, paper, cloth, or the like, by processess affecting, chemically or otherwise, the material itself; to tinge with a color or colors combining with, or penetrating, the substance; to dye; as, to stain wood with acids, colored washes, paint rubbed in, etc.; to stain glass. 3. To spot with guilt or infamy; to bring reproach on; to blot; to soil; to tarnish. Of honor void, Of innocence, of faith, of purity, Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained. --Milton. 4. To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison. She stains the ripest virgins of her age. --Beau. & Fl. That did all other beasts in beauty stain. --Spenser. {Stained glass}, glass colored or stained by certain metallic pigments fused into its substance, -- often used for making ornament windows. Syn: To paint; dye; blot; soil; sully; discolor; disgrace; taint. Usage: {Paint}, {Stain}, {Dye}. These denote three different processes; the first mechanical, the other two, chiefly chemical. To paint a thing is so spread a coat of coloring matter over it; to stain or dye a thing is to impart color to its substance. To stain is said chiefly of solids, as wood, glass, paper; to dye, of fibrous substances, textile fabrics, etc.; the one, commonly, a simple process, as applying a wash; the other more complex, as fixing colors by mordants.
\Stain\, v. i. To give or receive a stain; to grow dim.
\Stain\, n. 1. A discoloration by foreign matter; a spot; as, a stain on a garment or cloth. --Shak. 2. A natural spot of a color different from the gound. Swift trouts, diversified with crimson stains. --Pope. 3. Taint of guilt; tarnish; disgrace; reproach. Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains. --Dryden. Our opinion . . . is, I trust, without any blemish or stain of heresy. --Hooker. 4. Cause of reproach; shame. --Sir P. Sidney. 5. A tincture; a tinge. [R.] You have some stain of soldier in you. --Shak. Syn: Blot; spot; taint; pollution; blemish; tarnish; color; disgrace; infamy; shame.