maculate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To spot; to stain; to blur.

   They wolde nat maculate the honour of their people with suche a reproche.

First attested during the last quarter of the 15th century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English maculaten (“to spoil, polute”), borrowed from Latin maculātus, perfect passive participle of maculō (“to spot”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

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