Middle English Dictionary Entry
bismitten v.
Entry Info
| Forms | bismitten v. Ppl. bismit, -smitted, besmet, -smetted. |
| Etymology | OE besmittian |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
To soil; defile, corrupt.
Associated quotations
- a1225(?OE) Lamb.Hom.(Lamb 487)13 : Ne bi sunt [read: bismit] þu þe mid drunkenesse.
- a1250 Ancr.(Nero A.14)95/34 : Þe ȝiure glutun..kumeð forð biuoren his louerde bismitted.
- (1340) Ayenb.(Arun 57)32 : A uice huerof al þe wordle is besmet.
- (1340) Ayenb.(Arun 57)229 : Þe ilke maydenhod is sacrefice and ofringe to Iesu crist, þet ne is naȝt besmetted ine herte mid kueade þoȝtes.
- a1400 NVPsalter (Vsp D.7)54.23 : Þai bismitted night and dai His witeworde.