Stain (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Stained (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Staining.] [Abbrev. fr. distain.] 1.
To discolor by the application of foreign matter; to make foul;
to spot; as, to stain the hand with dye; armor stained
with blood.
2. To color, as wood, glass, paper, cloth, or
the like, by processess affecting, chemically or otherwise, the
material itself; to tinge with a color or colors combining with, or
penetrating, the substance; to dye; as, to stain wood with
acids, colored washes, paint rubbed in, etc.; to stain
glass.
3. To spot with guilt or infamy; to bring
reproach on; to blot; to soil; to tarnish.
Of honor void,
Of innocence, of faith, of purity,
Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained.
Milton.
4. To cause to seem inferior or soiled by
comparison.
She stains the ripest virgins of her
age.
Beau. & Fl.
That did all other beasts in beauty
stain.
Spenser.
Stained glass, glass colored or stained by
certain metallic pigments fused into its substance, -- often used for
making ornament windows.
Syn. -- To paint; dye; blot; soil; sully; discolor;
disgrace; taint. -- Paint, Stain, Dye. These
denote three different processes; the first mechanical, the other two,
chiefly chemical. To paint a thing is so spread a coat of
coloring matter over it; to stain or dye a thing is to
impart color to its substance. To stain is said chiefly of
solids, as wood, glass, paper; to dye, of fibrous substances,
textile fabrics, etc.; the one, commonly, a simple process, as
applying a wash; the other more complex, as fixing colors by
mordants.
Stain, v. i. To give or receive a
stain; to grow dim.
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. [R.]
You have some stain of soldier in
you.
Shak.
Syn. -- Blot; spot; taint; pollution; blemish; tarnish;
color; disgrace; infamy; shame.