bemire

English

Etymology

From Middle English *bemyren (possibly attested in Middle English bemyred), equivalent to be- (“all over”) +‎ mire.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bəˌmaɪə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bəˌmaɪɚ/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Verb

bemire (third-person singular simple present bemires, present participle bemiring, simple past and past participle bemired)

1. (archaic) To soil with mud or a similar substance.
   • 1603, John Davies, The Discovery of the Little World, with the Government Thereof‎^[1], Oxford, page 118:

     The Minde, constrain’d the Bodies want to feele,
     Makes Salves of Earth the Bodies hurt to heale,
     Which doe the Mind bemire with thoughts vnfitt;

   • 1684, “The Second Eclogue”, in Nahum Tate, transl., edited by John Dryden, Miscellany Poems‎^[2], London: Jacob Tonson, page 13:

     Ah me! while I fond wretch indulge my Dreams,
     Winds blast my Flow’rs, and Boars bemire my Streams.

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), pages 99-100:

     There was a Cow-Dung in the Path, and I must needs try my Activity by attempting to leap over it. I took a Run, but unfortunately jumped short, and found my self just in the Middle up to my Knees. I waded through with some Difficulty, and one of the Footmen wiped me as clean as he could with his Handkerchief; for I was filthily bemired […]

   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “[HTTP://WWW.GUTENBERG.ORG/FILES/1260/1260-H/1260-H.HTM CHAPTER 29]”, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:

     I wished to rise; but what could I put on? Only my damp and bemired apparel; in which I had slept on the ground and fallen in the marsh.

2. (archaic) To immerse or trap in mire.
   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress‎^[3],[4], London: Nath. Ponder, pages 13–14:

     True, there are by the direction of the Law-giver, certain good and subs[tantial] Steps, placed even through the very midst of this Slough; but at such a time as this place doth much spue out [its filth] as it doth against change of weather, these steps are hardly seen; or if they be, Men through the diziness of their heads, step besides; and then they are bemired to purpose, notwithstanding the steps be there […]

   • 1802, Rembrandt Peale, Account of the Skeleton of the Mammoth, a Non-Descript Carnivorous Animal of Immense Size Found in America‎^[5], London, page 38:

     In two of the morasses there was not depth sufficient to have bemired an animal of such magnitude and strength […]

   • 1888, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Black Arrow‎^[6], Book I, Chapter 2:

     I saw your horse bemired, and put him from his agony; which, by my sooth! an ye had been a more merciful rider, ye had done yourself.

   • 1912, Alice C. Thompson, The Good Old Days: A Comedy in One Act‎^[7], Philadelphia: Penn Publishing, page 9:

     Likely the stage-coach is bemired. The roads at this season of the year are none too good.

3. (figurative) To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "We have to stop him at any cost. That is the way our Cause gets bemired. Some villain who knows nothing about it comes into it for money and so the labours of the honest mediums get discounted."

Derived terms

• bemirement

 

Anagrams

• berime, bireme