Dictionary entry

Stain (3)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Stain, n. 1. A discoloration by foreign matter; a spot; as, a stain on a garment or cloth. Shak.

2. A natural spot of a color different from the gound.

Swift trouts, diversified with crimson stains. Pope.

3. Taint of guilt; tarnish; disgrace; reproach.

Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains. Dryden.

Our opinion... is, I trust, without any blemish or stain of heresy. Hooker.

4. Cause of reproach; shame. Sir P. Sidney.

5. A tincture; a tinge.

You have some stain of soldier in you. Shak.

Syn. — Blot; spot; taint; pollution; blemish; tarnish; color; disgrace; infamy; shame.