• (RP, GA) IPA: /ˈsʌli/

sully (sullies, present participle sullying; past and past participle sullied)

1. (transitive) To soil#Verb|soil or stain#Verb|stain; to dirty#Verb|dirty.

   Synonyms: sowl

   He did not wish to sully his hands with gardening.

   • 1826, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter I, in The Last of the Mohicans; a Narrative of 1757. [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, Chestnut-Street, OCLC 1538219 ↗, page 10 ↗:

     His nether garment was of yellow nankeen, closely fitted to the shape, and tied at his bunches of knees by large knots of white ribbon, a good deal sullied by use.

2. (transitive) To corrupt#Verb|corrupt or damage#Verb|damage.

   She tried to sully her rival’s reputation with a suggestive comment.

3. (intransitive) To become soiled#Adjective|soiled or tarnished#Adjective|tarnished.

• French: salir, souiller
• German: besudeln, schmutzig machen
• Portuguese: sujar
• Russian: па́чкать
• Spanish: manchar

• French: souiller
• German: besudeln
• Portuguese: manchar, macular
• Russian: пятнать
• Spanish: mancillar, manchar, macular, embarrar, enfangar

sully (plural sullies)

1. (rare, obsolete) A blemish#Noun|blemish.
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: Printed by I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, OCLC 760858814 ↗, [Act II, scene i] ↗:

     You laying these ſlight ſallies on my ſonne, / As t'were a thing a little ſoyld with working, {{...}

   • After all, it must be confessed, that a noble and triumphant merit often breaks through and dissipates these little spots and sullies in its reputation; but if, by a mistaken pursuit after fame, or through human infirmity any false step be made in the more momentous concerns of life, the whole scheme of ambitious designs is broken and disappointed.

• IPA: /ˈsʌli/

1. Surname
2. Diminutive of Sullivan#English|Sullivan
3. A coastal village in Vale of Glamorgan, Wales (OS grid ref ST1568).