A process of giving to gold or silver a pale or dim cast.

" His honor will be tarnished," said she, " if he do not marry her whom he has promised to marry. – The Claverings by Anthony Trollope

Near her window several trees stood out against this blue- gray background; the sun gave a dull tone as of tarnished silver to the sky; its rays colored the bare branches of the trees, where a few last leaves were fluttering, with a dingy red. – The Chouans by Honore de Balzac

He then looked if there were any other fastenings, and finding an old tarnished brass bolt as well, succeeded in making it do its duty for the first time that century, which required some persuasion, as may be supposed. – David Elginbrod by George MacDonald

He meant not to look at it at all, and he jerked his head away after the merest glance that showed him the ornament was tarnished silver, a little bigger than an American dollar, and bore no device familiar to his eyes. – The Magnetic North by Elizabeth Robins (C. E. Raimond)

Even the illumination in the saloon had been dimmed down for the night, as he could tell by the tarnished gleam beneath his stateroom door. – Alias The Lone Wolf by Louis Joseph Vance

The glory of Giant Bluff, whose boasts were as prodigious as his profession was mysterious, had recently, however, been tarnished by an open discomfiture. – Sigurd Our Golden Collie and Other Comrades of the Road by Katharine Lee Bates

Observers saw that, after all, the old German feeling was not dead; it was only torpid; and forces were beginning to work which threatened ruin to the Hohenzollerns if they again tarnished the national honour. – The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2) by John Holland Rose

Your good name might be tarnished. – The University of Hard Knocks by Ralph Parlette

The blade was not destined to be tarnished that day. – The Prairie Chief by R.M. Ballantyne

The gold might be tarnished, but it was true metal nevertheless. – The Heart of Canyon Pass by Thomas K. Holmes

I would rather be defeated honorably, squarely and honestly than to be successful with a tarnished character obtained through disreputable methods. – Treading the Narrow Way by R. E. Barrett

She was slight of form and her hair beneath the cap was of gold, a little tarnished. – The Wrong Twin by Harry Leon Wilson

In the huge house there was not a piano fit to play upon; and her only source of in- door amusement was a library containing a large disproportion of books in old French bindings, with much tarnished gilding on the backs. – Warlock o' Glenwarlock by George MacDonald

Not a breath had tarnished the polished blade of the silver knife. – Don Orsino by F. Marion Crawford

The old woman returned in the night and knew by the tarnished thread what had happened in her absence. – The Blue Fairy Book by Various

He could order the dinners by himself, it is true, and get men like himself to eat them; but the fine people- the men who had once been fine, and who still retained a certain tarnished glory- were, so far as Wodehouse was concerned, entirely in Jack Wentworth's keeping. – The Perpetual Curate by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant

It was a little square room, with half- a- dozen doors, plainly contrived out of one of the huge old halls, for it was immensely high, and the tarnished gilt cornice vanished directly in two places into the white walls. – Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson