Bedabble

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To wet or soil something by splashing it with mud, water or other liquid ; to scatter small spots, flecks or dots of color over a surface
2. To spatter a thing with drops of muck or moisture ; to mark or speckle an area with tiny patches or specks
3. To dirty something by spraying it with liquid or filth ; to adorn or cover a surface with small scattered spots or dots

Etymology: "Bedabble" is a plain formation: the prefix "be-", which in English turns a verb into one meaning "to cover or affect thoroughly," attached to "dabble." The prefix comes down through Old English "be-", whose ancestors reach back to a very old Indo-European root, but in English it is simply a productive way of building new verbs from existing ones. "Dabble" is the older base. It belongs to the same family as "dab," the sense of a light, quick touch or splash, and it describes repeatedly dipping or spattering something in water or liquid. Once "be-" was added, the verb came to mean soaking or spotting a surface thoroughly with such splashes, which is why it can refer both to wetting something with mud or water and to scattering small flecks of colour over it.

Synonyms: bespatter, splatter, spatter, besmear, bedaub