▪ I. blemish, v.
(ˈblɛmɪʃ)
Forms: 4 blemyss, -iss, -ess, -ysch, -ysh, 4–5 blensch, blench, 5 blemissh, -esh, -ysch, 5–6 blemyssh(e, 6– blemish. pa. tense and pple. blemished, in 4 blemest(e, -yst, 5 blemschyd, 6– blemisht.
[a. OF. blemiss-, extended stem of blemir (also blesmir, blaismir, in Pr. blasmar, blesmar) to render livid or pale, f. blaisme, blesme, blême ‘livid, pale,’ of uncertain origin: see Diez, Littré. The syncopated forms blemschyd, blensch, caused partial confusion with blench: see senses 2, 5.]
† 1. To hurt, damage, do physical damage or injury to, deface. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1421 Wine..Breyþed vppe in to his brayn & blemyst his mynde. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2471 Bihuld aboute on his bodi ȝif it blenched were. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2578 He þet es blemeste with þis brade brande. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxiii. 249 Such holdes and castellys, as the Scottis by theyr warrys had blemysshed and apayred. Ibid. vii. 386 The towne of Boston was greatly blemysshed with fyre. 1571 Digges Pantom. i. xxxv. L iij, Blemishing all the..lines..drawen with black lead or such like, that you maye easely put oute or rase awaye. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 129 He cut off his tail..Being demanded why he so blemished his beast, etc. |
† 2. To dim or darken (the eye-sight). Obs.
| 1440 Promp. Parv. 39 Blenschyn [1499 blemysshen], obfusco. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) iv. x. 173 They blemysshe theyr eye in lokynge ayenst the sonne. 1526 Pilg. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 297 My corporal eye..shall be blemysshed or derked by the reason of the lyght. ? 1677 Lover's Quar. 82 The salt tears blemished his eye. |
3. To mar, spoil, or injure the working of.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (1840) 14 Pité blemeshithe the swerd of rightewisnes. a 1555 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 261 Ye do blemish the annunciation of the Lords death till he come. 1625 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 338 That the people be not..troubled..nor the peace blemished. 1635 Wentworth in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 276 III. 282 To overthrowe or at least to blemishe the proceedings. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iii. 253 An expedient, which though blemished in the execution, was itself reasonable and prudent. |
† b. To disconcert, put out. Cf. blench v.1 5.
| 1544 Bale Chron. Sir J. Oldcastell in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 264 At this, the archbishopp and hys companye were not a lytle blemyshed. |
4. To impair or mar the beauty, soundness, or perfection of; to damage.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. 223 Alle blemyshed is thi ble. 1530 Palsgr. 457/1, I blemysshe, I hynder or hurte the beautye of a person. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 128 These eyes could not endure y{supt} beauties wrack, You should not blemish it, if I stood by. c 1746 Hervey Medit. & Contempl. I. 183 Without blemishing their Beauty, or altering their Nature. |
b. To impair morally or ideally; to sully, stain, spoil.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 178 Coveitise of wickede preestis blemyshiþ hem. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. i. §3 Let not the faith..be blemished with partialities. 1660 Boyle Seraph. Love 2 That the extraction of your freedom may no ways blemish it. 1735 Oldys Raleigh Wks. 1829 I. 270 Nothing..that might blemish reputation. 1866 Howells Venet. Life (1883) II. xx. 163 The admixture of ruffianism which blemishes most loafers. |
c. To cast a slur upon, asperse, defame, discredit, disable. Obs. exc. in Law.
| 1414 Brampton Penit. Ps. xlvii. 18 Ne with here tungys blemysch my name. 1593 Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 394 To blemish and reproch so many. 1649 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 341 Blemish not a man that is innocent. 1699 Dryden To J. Driden 31 Not that my verse would blemish all the fair. 1715 Burnet Own Time II. 331 Anything that would..blemish the management of the treasury. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 291 Whether a man should be permitted to blemish himself, by pleading his own insanity. |
† 5. intr. To turn pale, change colour, blench. (Cf. mod.F. blêmir.) Obs. rare. Cf. blench v.2
| 1530 Palsgr. 457/1, I blemysshe, I chaunge colour..Sawe you nat howe he blemysshed at it. |
6. A hunting term: see quot. and cf. blemish n. 4.
| 1575 Turberv. Venery 104 Blemishing against or over the slot or viewe of the deare. 1792 W. Osbaldiston Brit. Sportsm., Blemish, a hunting term, used when the hounds or beagles, finding where the chase has been, make a proffer to enter but return. |
▪ II. blemish, n.
(ˈblɛmɪʃ)
Also 6 blemysh, bleamish(e.
[f. the vb.]
1. Physical defect or disfigurement; a stain. (Used spec. of the mark of injury to a horse, as the scar of a broken knee.)
| 1535 Coverdale Tob. xi. 13 Then beganne the blemysh to go out of his eyes, like as it had bene the whyte szkynne of an egg. ― Lev. ix. 3 A calf and a shepe, both..without blemysh [Wyclif, wemme, wem; 1611 blemish]. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 97 Face spots, or blemishes, anoint with the iuice of the roots. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 34 Speaking thicke (which Nature made his blemish). 1718 Freethinker No. 37. 270 One never sees the least Blemish of ink upon his Nails. 1827 Hare Guesses Ser. ii. (1873) 500 Nothing hides a blemish so completely as cloth of gold. |
2. transf. A defect, imperfection, flaw, in any object, matter, condition, or work.
| 1555 Fardle Facions i. i. 23 A moste blessed life without bleamishe of wo. 1611 Bible Pref. 8 Some imperfections and blemishes may be noted in the setting foorth of it. 1771 Junius Lett. xlv. 244 The minor critic..hunts for blemishes. 1863 H. Rogers J. Howe (ed. 2) Pref. 5 The work has now received a careful revision, and it is hoped that..such blemishes are removed. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 222 The divine light is without blemish. |
3. fig. A moral defect or stain; a flaw, fault, blot, slur.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 64 A blemysshe, which semeth to disteyne all his vertues. 1580 Baret Alv. B 796 A bleamishe in ones good name. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres ii. i. 27 No blemish vnto any Gentleman to serue as a common souldier in the Captaines squadron. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 341 Ile giue no blemish to her Honor, none. 1656 Bramhall Replic. i. 51 Some abuses are..rather blemishes than sinnes. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 681 If they find Some stain or blemish in a name of note. |
† 4. Venery. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1575 Turberv. Venery 94 The same huntsman shall go backe to his blemishes immediately. Ibid. 114 Blemishes..are the markes which are left to knowe where a deare hath gone in or out. 1627 Taylor (Water P.) Wks. (1630) i. 93/1 Blemishes, Sewelling, Auant-laye, Allaye, Relaye..and a thousand more such Vtopian fragments of confused Gibberish. 1656 in Blount Glossogr. 1721–90 in Bailey. |