To make someone appear villainous or to treat someone like a villain; to defame or malign.
Formed from 'be-' plus 'villain,' using the productive English prefix that means 'to make or treat as.' The underlying 'villain' comes from Old French 'vilain,' originally meaning a peasant or common person.
This rare word captures a moment in English history when writers loved creating 'be-' verbs—you could theoretically 'be-' almost anything to create a new verb. Shakespeare's plays are full of these creative formations, many of which didn't survive.
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