befoul

== English == === Etymology === From be- +‎ foul. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /bɪˈfaʊl/ Rhymes: -aʊl === Verb === befoul (third-person singular simple present befouls, present participle befouling, simple past and past participle befouled) (literally) To make foul; to soil; to contaminate, pollute. Synonyms: befile, befilth, foul; see also Thesaurus:dirty 1897, Robert Gwynneddon Davies (translator), The Sleeping Bard by Ellis Wynne, London: Simplkon, Marshall & Co., Part I,[1] At last, what with a round of blasphemy, and the whole crowd with clay pistols belching smoke and fire and slander of their neighbours, and the floor already befouled with dregs and spittle, I feared lest viler deeds should happen, and craved to depart. 1997, Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid, “Echo and Narcissus” in Paul Keegan (ed.), Ted Hughes: Collected Poems, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, p. 919,[3] There was a pool of perfect water. […] No cattle Had slobbered their muzzles in it And befouled it. (specifically) To defecate on, to soil with excrement. Synonyms: beshit, shit on (figuratively) To stain or mar (e.g., with infamy or disgrace). Synonyms: besmirch, sully, tarnish; see also Thesaurus:defame (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) To entangle or run against so as to impede motion. Synonyms: enmesh, foul, snarl; see also Thesaurus:tangle ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== afoul ==== Translations ====