8 letters · 17 points in Scrabble
verb charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
verb smear so as to make dirty or stained
originFrom Middle English besmorchen (attested in besmorchid). Compare Middle English bismotered (“bespattered, soiled”). By surface analysis, be- + smirch.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0