BLOT (blotted, blotting)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: blotted    , blotting   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does blot mean? 

• BLOT (noun)
  The noun BLOT has 2 senses:

1. a blemish made by dirt

2. an act that brings discredit to the person who does it

  Familiarity information: BLOT used as a noun is rare.

• BLOT (verb)
  The verb BLOT has 2 senses:

1. dry (ink) with blotting paper

2. make a spot or mark onto

  Familiarity information: BLOT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BLOT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A blemish made by dirt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

blot; daub; slur; smear; smirch; smudge; spot

Context example:

he had a smudge on his cheek

Hypernyms ("blot" is a kind of...):

blemish; defect; mar (a mark or flaw that spoils the appearance of something (especially on a person's body))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "blot"):

blotch; splodge; splotch (an irregularly shaped spot)

fingermark; fingerprint (a smudge made by a (dirty) finger)

inkblot (a blot made with ink)

Derivation:

blot (make a spot or mark onto)

blot (dry (ink) with blotting paper)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An act that brings discredit to the person who does it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

blot; smear; smirch; spot; stain

Context example:

he made a huge blot on his copybook

Hypernyms ("blot" is a kind of...):

error; fault; mistake (a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention)

• BLOT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they blot    ... he / she / it blots   
Past simple: blotted   
Past participle: blotted   
-ing form: blotting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dry (ink) with blotting paper

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "blot" is one way to...):

absorb; draw; imbibe; soak up; sop up; suck; suck up; take in; take up (take in, also metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

blot (a blemish made by dirt)

blotter (absorbent paper used to dry ink)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a spot or mark onto

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

blob; blot; fleck; spot

Context example:

The wine spotted the tablecloth

Hypernyms (to "blot" is one way to...):

change surface (undergo or cause to undergo a change in the surface)

Verb group:

stain (produce or leave stains)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "blot"):

splotch (blotch or spot)

defile; maculate; stain; sully; tarnish (make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically)

bespeckle; speckle (mark with small spots)

bespatter; spatter (spot, splash, or soil)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

blot (a blemish made by dirt)

 Context examples 

The smoke of the Macedonia had dwindled to a dim blot on the north-eastern horizon.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

If it had been written straight off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Oh!” cried Miss Bingley, “Charles writes in the most careless way imaginable. He leaves out half his words, and blots the rest.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole landscape was blotted out.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

All that was god-like in him was blotted out.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

By Northern blot analysis, the highest expression of RIGE was found in liver, kidney, and ovary in addition to peripheral blood leukocytes.

(Lymphocyte Antigen 6 Complex, Locus E, NCI Thesaurus)

Detection of RNA that has been electrophoretically separated and immobilized by blotting on nitrocellulose or other type of paper or nylon membrane.

(Northern Blotting, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

In such cases the BCR-ABL1 fusion gene is always detected by RT-PCR, FISH, or Southern blot analysis.

(Philadelphia Chromosome Negative, BCR-ABL1 Positive Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, NCI Thesaurus)

Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Conventional techniques used for testing for the hybridization product include dot blot assays, Southern blot assays, and DNA:RNA hybrid-specific antibody tests.

(DNA Probes, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)