Strive as he might, Tommy could not forget that evening at the mess-the historic occasion, as he had lightly named it-when like an evil magic at work he had witnessed the smirching of his hero's honour.
"The Lamp in the Desert"
Ethel M. Dell
Because, too, she had once saved that life from its threatened smirching, the gratitude which might have been his most treasured sentiment became to him an intolerable obligation.
"The Tempering"
Charles Neville Buck
It follows that if children are always with their parents, the more unlovely side cannot fail to be perceived, and, arising out of it, must follow injury by example, harm by environment, smirching of idealism, loss of respect.
"This Freedom"
A. S. M. Hutchinson