To splash or spray liquid, mud, or other substances on someone or something in an uncontrolled way.
From 'be-' prefix meaning 'to cover' plus 'spatter,' which comes from Middle Dutch 'spatten' (to splash). The word emerged in English around the 1600s as a more emphatic version of 'spatter.'
Shakespeare likely knew 'spatter,' but by the time 'bespatter' became common in the 1600s, English writers used it metaphorically too—you could 'bespatter someone's reputation' with lies, which is how we still use 'besmirch' today.
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