GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Stain , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stained ; p. pr. & vb. n. Staining.] [Abbrev. fr. distain.]
   To discolor by the application of foreign matter; to make foul; to spot; as, to stain the hand with dye; armor stained with blood.
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   To color, as wood, glass, paper, cloth, or the like, by processes 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.
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   To spot with guilt or infamy; to bring reproach on; to blot; to soil; to tarnish.
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   Of honor void,
   Of innocence, of faith, of purity,
   Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained.
   Milton.
   
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   To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.
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   She stains the ripest virgins of her age.
   Beau. & Fl.
   
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   That did all other beasts in beauty stain.
   Spenser.
   
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   Stained glass, glass colored or stained by certain metallic pigments fused into its substance, -- often used for making ornamental windows.
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   Syn. -- To paint; dye; blot; soil; sully; discolor; disgrace; taint. -- Paint, Stain, Dye. These denote three different processes; the first mechanical, the other two, chiefly chemical. To paint a thing is to 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.
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2.       
   Stain, v. i. To give or receive a stain; to grow dim.
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3.       
   Stain, n.
   A discoloration by foreign matter; a spot; as, a stain on a garment or cloth.
   Shak.
   
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   A natural spot of a color different from the ground.
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   Swift trouts, diversified with crimson stains.
   Pope.
   
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   Taint of guilt; tarnish; disgrace; reproach.
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   Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains.
   Dryden.
   
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   Our opinion . . . is, I trust, without any blemish or stain of heresy.
   Hooker.
   
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   Cause of reproach; shame.
   Sir P. Sidney.
   
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   A tincture; a tinge. [R.]
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   You have some stain of soldier in you.
   Shak.
   
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   Syn. -- Blot; spot; taint; pollution; blemish; tarnish; color; disgrace; infamy; shame.
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