
verb (used with object)
- to cover or coat with soft, adhesive matter, as plaster or mud: to daub a canvas with paint; to daub stone walls with mud.
- to spread (plaster, mud, etc.) on or over something: to daub plaster on a brick wall.
- to smear, soil, or defile.
- to apply, as paint or colors, unskillfully.
verb (used without object)
- to daub something.
- to paint unskillfully.
noun
- material, especially of an inferior kind, for daubing walls.
- something daubed on.
- an act of daubing.
- a crude, inartistic painting.
verb
- (tr) to smear or spread (paint, mud, etc), esp carelessly
- (tr) to cover or coat (with paint, plaster, etc) carelessly
- to paint (a picture) clumsily or badly
noun
- an unskilful or crude painting
- something daubed on, esp as a wall coveringSee also wattle and daub
- a smear (of paint, mud, etc)
- the act of daubing
late 14c. (Dauber as a surname is recorded from mid-13c.), from Old French dauber “to whitewash, plaster” (13c.), perhaps from Latin dealbare, from de- “thoroughly” + albare “to whiten,” from albus “white” (see alb). Painting sense is from 1620s. Related: Daubed; daubing. As a noun, from mid-15c.