maculate

English edit

Etymology edit

Latin maculātus, past participle of maculāre (“to spot”).

Verb edit

maculate (third-person singular simple present maculates, present participle maculating, simple past and past participle maculated)

To spot; to stain; to blur.
- 1531, Thomas Elyot, edited by Ernest Rhys, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC:
  they wolde nat maculate the honour of their people with suche a reproche
- 1918, Louis Joseph Vance, “Chapter 21”, in The False Faces:
  There was a fresh smell in the air. Sidewalks began to be maculated with spreading areas of dryness

Translations edit

To spot; to stain; to blur

Bulgarian: опетнявам (bg) (opetnjavam)
Russian: загрязнять (ru) (zagrjaznjatʹ), па́чкать (ru) (páčkatʹ)

Adjective edit

maculate (comparative more maculate, superlative most maculate)

Marked with spots or maculae; blotched.
Defiled; impure.
- 1998 May 25, The New Republic:
  [Les Misérables is] about the struggle of a mistreated man as he rises to the top, along with a mortal conflict between this maculate virtuous man and an immaculate pursuing demon.