befoul

Definition

To make foul; to soil; to contaminate, pollute.

Etymology

From be- + foul.

Example Sentences

• "These heights are a desirable retreat, for less picturesque reasons—as an escape from a compound of vile smells perpetually arising from a great harbour full of stagnant water, and befouled by the refuse of innumerable ships with all sorts of cargoes: which, in hot weather, is dreadful in the last degree."
• "1897, Robert Gwynneddon Davies (translator), The Sleeping Bard by Ellis Wynne, London: Simplkon, Marshall & Co., Part I, 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."
• "Only the four walls of his home still stood, blackened and smoking with the sluggish, stinking smoke that befouled the sea-wind."