Definition

1. Verb:

   • To coat or cover a surface with a thick, sticky, or soft substance in a rough or unskillful manner: The primary meaning involves applying a substance like plaster, mud, or paint to a surface, often implying a lack of finesse or care.
   • To apply something to a surface in a crude, messy, or careless way: This extends to any act of smearing or spreading a substance messily.

2. Noun:

   • A patch or smear of a thick or dirty substance: A small area covered messily with something like mud or paint.
   • A crude or unskillful painting: A picture created with poor technique, appearing messy or amateurish.
   • Material used for coating walls: Historically, a substance like plaster, mud, or mortar used for surfacing walls.

Usage Examples

• Verb:

  • The workers will daub the walls with a mixture of clay and straw.
  • The child daubed finger paint all over the paper.
  • He daubed some ointment on the cut.

• Noun:

  • There was a daub of mud on her shoe.
  • The art critic dismissed the piece as a mere daub.
  • The hut was made of wattle and daub.

Advanced Usage

• "Wattle and daub": A traditional building method using a woven lattice (wattle) coated with a sticky material like mud or plaster (daub).

  • The historical house was constructed using wattle and daub.

• "Daubed with": Describes something messily covered or marked with a substance.

  • His face was daubed with war paint.

Variants and Related Words

• Daubing (n): The act or result of applying daub.

  • The daubing on the wall was still wet.

• Dauber (n): A person who daubs, especially an unskilled painter.

  • He was considered a mere dauber by the artistic community.

Synonyms

• Verb: Smear, plaster, coat, slather, bedaub.
• Noun: Smudge, blotch, smear, blot.

Related Phrases

• Daub on: To apply a substance messily onto a surface.

  • She daubed the cream on her sunburn.

• Daub over: To cover a surface by daubing.

  • They daubed over the old graffiti with fresh paint.

Related Idioms

• "Not worth a daub": (Archaic) To be of very little value or quality.
  • His early sketches were not worth a daub, but he improved with practice.

Noun

1. an unskillful painting
2. a blemish made by dirt
   • he had a smudge on his cheek
3. material used to daub walls

Verb

1. cover (a surface) by smearing (a substance) over it
   • smear the wall with paint
   • daub the ceiling with plaster
2. apply to a surface
   • daub paint onto the wall
3. coat with plaster
   • daub the wall