2. To color, as wood, glass, paper, cloth, or the like, by
processess affecting, chemically or otherwise, the
material itself; to tinge with a color or colors combining
with, or penetrating, the substance; to dye; as, to stain
wood with acids, colored washes, paint rubbed in, etc.; to
stain glass.
3. To spot with guilt or infamy; to bring reproach on; to
blot; to soil; to tarnish.
Of honor void, Of innocence, of faith, of purity,
Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained.
--Milton.
4. To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.
She stains the ripest virgins of her age. --Beau. &
Fl.
That did all other beasts in beauty stain.
--Spenser.
{Stained glass}, glass colored or stained by certain metallic
pigments fused into its substance, -- often used for
making ornament windows.
Syn: To paint; dye; blot; soil; sully; discolor; disgrace;
taint.
Usage: {Paint}, {Stain}, {Dye}. These denote three different
processes; the first mechanical, the other two,
chiefly chemical. To paint a thing is so spread a coat
of coloring matter over it; to stain or dye a thing is
to impart color to its substance. To stain is said
chiefly of solids, as wood, glass, paper; to dye, of
fibrous substances, textile fabrics, etc.; the one,
commonly, a simple process, as applying a wash; the
other more complex, as fixing colors by mordants.