shend means to disgrace or put to shame. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
shend is pronounced /ʃɛnd/.
Why “shend” is a great word
SHEND — [Verb] To disgrace, ruin, or destroy utterly, carrying the weight of a shameful downfall. From Middle English shenden, from Old English sċendan ("to put to shame, blame, disgrace"), from Proto-West Germanic *skandijan ("to scold, berate"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kem- ("to cover"). Unlike "disgrace," which tarnishes honor, or "mar," which merely spoils a surface, to shend is a comprehensive moral undoing that shrouds its object in infamy. It is the deliberate razing of a rival's hall, the public stripping of a knight's spurs, and the slow corrosion of a reputation by whispered truth—the final, covering darkness where dignity once stood.
Etymology
From Middle English shenden, from Old English sċendan (“to put to shame, blame, disgrace”), from Proto-West Germanic *skandijan (“to scold, berate”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kem- (“to cover”). Cognate with Dutch schenden (“to infringe, profane, defile”), German schänden (“defile”). Related to Old English sċand (“infamy, shame, scandal”). More at shand, shame.
verb
- To disgrace or put to shame.“Her fawning love with foule disdainefull spight
He would not shend”
- To blame.
- To destroy; to spoil.“Go see their fleet and arms, their manner view / of moulded metal, ready all to shend[.]”
- To overpower; to surpass.“Since sware the Parcæ unto me, their friend, / they shall adore my name, my favour prize; / and, as their feats of armèd prowess shend / all feats of rival Rome, I lief devise / some mode of aidance in what things I may, / far as our force o'er man extendeth sway.”