purple-redn.adj.

1565 B. Googe tr. ‘M. Palingenius’ Zodiake of Life (new ed.) xii. sig. XX. vii The beautie then is bright When as a purple redde with white well entermedled lyes [L. Quum porphyriaco uariatur candida rubro].

1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus (new ed.) 119 As the clusters ere the grapes be ripe, with orient purple red are striped here and there, such sanguine glowed in her face.

1622 P. Hannay Nightingale 19 With purple red, All over-spred, Sweet Virgin shame did make her.

1689 W. Cole Purpura Anglicana 3 In a little time more, it will be of a Purplish red: after which, lying about an hour or two, (supposing the Sun still shining) it will be of a very deep Purple red.

1719 tr. J. Pitton de Tournefort Compl. Herbal I. 236/2 A Sheath or Husk about a Foot long, of an herby Colour, within of a purple Red.

1799 tr. A. von Kotzebue Constant Lover I. iii. 17 Instead of blue silk, the binding was ornamented with purple red.

1848 Sci. Amer. 21 Oct. 35/3 Violet ivory is changed to purple-red by steeping it a little while in water containing a few drops of nitro-muriatic acid.

1879 O. N. Rood Mod. Chromatics xiv. 214 Every kind of pure red, from purple-red to orange-red.

1922 J. J. Sudborough Bernthsen's Text-bk. Org. Chem. (new ed.) xiii. 298 It colours the skin purple-red, and with ferrous sulphate solution produces an indigo-blue colour.

1951 N. Pevsner Middlesex (Buildings of Eng.) 63 The brickwork is sensitive throughout, of uneven surface and varying in colour from grey to dark purple-reds.

2000 R. McTair in N. Hopkinson Whispers from Cotton Tree Root 73 The sun turned a purple-red in the sky and slunk behind the far horizon.

1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii. lxiv. 230 Wilde Tyme. The floures..most commonly of a purple red colour.

1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 67 The people are all died purplered in it with Christs blood.

1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 191 With an innocent thrust he left spight dead; Wip'd off the bloud of slander purple red.

1716 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (ed. 4) II. 233 Peony is a Plant of several sorts... The first is very useful in Physick, and bears a flower of a purple red Colour.

1768 J. R. Forster Introd. Mineral. 55 Purple-antimonial-ore is finely striated; is of a beautiful purple red colour, and contains..some arsenic.

1800 W. Combe tr. C. S. Sonnini Trav. Upper & Lower Egypt xxx. 387 A grotesque idol in porcelain, covered with a purple red enamel.

a1865 E. C. Gaskell Wives & Daughters (1866) II. xiii. 131 The woods were golden; the old house of purple-red brick, with its twisted chimneys, rose up from among them.

1918 W. Cather My Ántonia v. i. 385 The crabs hung on the branches as thick as beads on a string, purple-red, with a thin silvery glaze over them.

1934 C. C. Steele Introd. Plant Biochem. vi. xix. 219 3-Glucoside: Chrysanthemin in red varieties of Chrysanthemum indicum and asterin in the purple-red Aster (along with callistephin) are identical.

1994 Harper's Mag. Nov. 36/1 He has saved his best meat for my mother,..perhaps giblets for her special dressing, the hard nubbins of chicken hearts and kidneys, the tiny livers purple-red like gems.