To Stain. v.a. [ystaenio, Welsh, from ys and taenu.
        Rhag Gwyar or Gnawd,
    Afar ystaenawd. Taliessyn, an old British poet.]

1. To blot; to spot; to maculate.

               Lend me a looking-glass;
   If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
   Why then she lives. Shakespeare's King Lear.

           From the gash a stream
   His armour stain'd, ere while so bright. Milton.

   Embrace again, my sons: be foes no more,
   Nor stain your country with your children's gore. Dryden.

2. To disgrace; to spot with guilt or infamy.

   Of honour void, of innocence, of faith, of purity,
   Our wonted ornaments now soil'd and stain'd. Milton.