Search Result for "sully": pronunciation
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. 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]


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]


U.S. Gazetteer (1990):

Sully, IA (city, FIPS 76035)
  Location: 41.57864 N, 92.84646 W
  Population (1990): 841 (333 housing units)
  Area: 1.0 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
  Zip code(s): 50251


Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

83 Moby Thesaurus words for "sully":
   abuse, attaint, bedaub, befoul, benasty, besmear, besmirch,
   besmutch, besoil, bespatter, betray, black, blacken, blemish, blot,
   blow upon, brand, call names, censure, contaminate, corrupt, daub,
   debauch, deceive, defame, defile, deflower, demoralize, denigrate,
   despoil, destroy, dirty, disapprove, discolor, disgrace, disparage,
   engage in personalities, expose, expose to infamy, force, foul,
   gibbet, hang in effigy, heap dirt upon, infect, lead astray, mar,
   mess, mess up, mislead, muckrake, nasty, pillory, pollute, rape,
   ravage, ravish, reprimand, revile, ruin, seduce, shame, slubber,
   slur, smear, smirch, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, spoil,
   spot, stain, stigmatize, taint, tar, tarnish, throw mud at, vilify,
   violate, vitiate, wreck