stain
verb/steɪn/
/steɪn/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they stain | /steɪn/ /steɪn/ |
| he / she / it stains | /steɪnz/ /steɪnz/ |
| past simple stained | /steɪnd/ /steɪnd/ |
| past participle stained | /steɪnd/ /steɪnd/ |
| -ing form staining | /ˈsteɪnɪŋ/ /ˈsteɪnɪŋ/ |
- [transitive, intransitive] to leave a mark that is difficult to remove on something; to be marked in this way
- stain (something) (with something) I hope it doesn't stain the carpet.
- This carpet stains easily.
- stain something + adj. The juice from the berries stained their fingers red.
Extra Examples- The children's fingers were stained purple with blackberry juice.
- The shirt was heavily stained with blood.
Oxford Collocations Dictionarypreposition- with
- be badly stained
- be heavily stained
- be slightly stained
- …
- [transitive] to change the colour of something using a coloured liquid
- stain something to stain wood
- Stain the specimen before looking at it under the microscope.
- stain something + adj. They stained the floors dark brown.
- The floors had been stained dark brown.
- [transitive] stain something (formal) to damage the opinion that people have of something
- The events had stained the city's reputation unfairly.
Word Originlate Middle English (as a verb): shortening of archaic distain, from Old French desteindre ‘tinge with a colour different from the natural one’. The noun was first recorded (mid 16th cent.) in the sense ‘defilement, disgrace’.
Check pronunciation:
stain