besmoke
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English besmoken, equivalent to be- + smoke. Cognate with Dutch besmoken, Middle Low German besmoken.
Verb
[edit]besmoke (third-person singular simple present besmokes, present participle besmoking, simple past and past participle besmoked)
- (transitive) To fill with smoke; act on with smoke; fumigate.
- (transitive) To befoul with smoke.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 11:
- On one side hung a very large oil-painting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the unequal cross-lights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose.
- (transitive) To harden or dry in smoke.