Search Result for "sully": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. United States painter (born in England) of portraits and historical scenes (1783-1872);
[syn: Sully, Thomas Sully]

2. French statesman (1560-1641);
[syn: Sully, Duc de Sully, Maxmilien de Bethune]


VERB (3)

1. place under suspicion or cast doubt upon;
- Example: "sully someone's reputation"
[syn: defile, sully, corrupt, taint, cloud]

2. make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically;
- Example: "The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air"
- Example: "Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man"
[syn: tarnish, stain, maculate, sully, defile]

3. charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone;
- Example: "The journalists have defamed me!"
- Example: "The article in the paper sullied my reputation"
[syn: defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sully \Sul"ly\, v. i.
   To become soiled or tarnished.
   [1913 Webster]

         Silvering will sully and canker more than gilding.
                                                  --Bacon.
   [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sully \Sul"ly\, n.; pl. Sullies.
   Soil; tarnish; stain.
   [1913 Webster]

         A noble and triumphant merit breaks through little
         spots and sullies in his reputation.     --Spectator.
   [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sully \Sul"ly\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sullied; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Sullying.] [OE. sulien, AS. sylian, fr. sol mire; akin to
   G. suhle mire, sich, s["u]hlen to wallow, Sw. s["o]la to
   bemire, Dan. s["o]le, Goth. bisaulijan to defile.]
   To soil; to dirty; to spot; to tarnish; to stain; to darken;
   -- used literally and figuratively; as, to sully a sword; to
   sully a person's reputation.
   [1913 Webster]

         Statues sullied yet with sacrilegious smoke.
                                                  --Roscommon.
   [1913 Webster]

         No spots to sully the brightness of this solemnity.
                                                  --Atterbury.
   [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Sully
    n 1: United States painter (born in England) of portraits and
         historical scenes (1783-1872) [syn: Sully, Thomas
         Sully]
    2: French statesman (1560-1641) [syn: Sully, Duc de Sully,
       Maxmilien de Bethune]
    v 1: place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; "sully someone's
         reputation" [syn: defile, sully, corrupt, taint,
         cloud]
    2: make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used
       metaphorically; "The silver was tarnished by the long
       exposure to the air"; "Her reputation was sullied after the
       affair with a married man" [syn: tarnish, stain,
       maculate, sully, defile]
    3: charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name
       and reputation of someone; "The journalists have defamed me!"
       "The article in the paper sullied my reputation" [syn:
       defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate,
       calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch]