reddenv.
/ˈrɛdn/, U.S. /ˈrɛd(ə)n/ 1.
a. transitive. To make red, to impart a red colour to (a substance or thing).In quot. 1611: to make a reddish colour by curing (see red herring n. 1a).
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > red or redness > making or becoming red > make red [verb (transitive)]
red?c1225
rud?c1225
rubifyc1450
inflame1477
keel1508
redden1552
rubrify1587
fire1597
blusha1616
over-reda1616
ruddy1689
rouge1815
1552 [implied in: R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Redned, ruddled, or couloured with redde. Rubricatus. (at reddened adj.)].
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Saurir les harencs, to redden Herrings.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 118 Scarcely the Knife was redden'd with his Gore. View more context for this quotation
1709 M. Prior Solomon iii. 26 To..Pale it with Rage, or redden it with Shame.
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. xiii. 219 The blazing Altars redden all the shore.
1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. iv. 235 It may be mixed with..saltpetre to redden the meat.
1856 Ld. Tennyson Maud (rev. ed.) xix. vi, in Maud & Other Poems (new ed.) 68 This was what had redden'd her cheek When I bow'd to her on the moor.
1871 B. Taylor tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust II. ii. iii. 161 All have fallen.., Reddening with their blood the water.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. iv. 53 This acid is, however, still strong enough to redden blue litmus, or the extract of blue cornflowers.
1970 N. Bawden Birds on Trees x. 172 Iris blew her nose, reddening the tip.
2002 Field & Stream Jan. 84/2 Nature doesn't rest until the last scrap of meat reddens the bill of the last magpie.
b. intransitive. To grow or become red, to assume a red appearance. Also figurative.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > red or redness > making or becoming red > become red [verb (intransitive)]
redOE
ruddenc1225
flamec1400
redden1669
blush1679
fire1837
1669 R. Allestree 18 Serm. xviii. 328 You may behold them also tearing Christs wounds wider to mouth their swelling passion: we may see their anger redden with his Blood.
1699 S. Garth Dispensary i. 3 Chill Virgins redden into flame.
1700 W. Congreve Way of World ii. i. 20 I have seen the warm Confession red'ning on your Cheeks.
1713 A. Pope Windsor-Forest 17 For me the Balm shall bleed,..The Coral redden.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xxi. 27 The waters as they ran, redden'd with blood.
1827 J. Keble Christian Year II. ci. 192 Bright leaves, reddening ere they fall.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 84 His anger reddens in the heavens.
1853 W. C. Bryant Poems (new ed.) 160 Dark anthracite! that reddenest on my hearth.
1902 A. E. W. Mason Four Feathers xvii. 165 The sunlight mellowed and reddened.
1951 F. L. Lucas Greek Poetry for Everyman Introd. p. xxv But now, beyond the Straits of Otranto, dawn reddens on gaunt mountains towering like a rampart sheer from the Ionian Sea.
1992 B. Unsworth Sacred Hunger xxiv. 231 The willowherb came and the berries began to redden on the rowan trees.
2. Of a person.† b. intransitive. To grow ruddy with health. Obsolete. rare.
a. intransitive. To become red in the face (with shame, rage, etc.); to blush, become flushed.
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the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > manifestation of emotion > manifest itself [verb (intransitive)] > change colour > be or become red with emotion
redOE
glowc1386
blushc1450
colour1616
reddena1648
crimson1780
the mind > emotion > anger > manifestation of anger > show anger [verb (intransitive)] > look angry > of face: grow red with anger
reddena1648
the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > redness > [verb (intransitive)] > blush
redOE
rudOE
glowc1386
blushc1450
colour1616
paint1631
reddena1648
vermilion1699
mantle1707
flush1709
crimson1780
rouge1780
ruddy1845
smoke1862
mount1894
rose1922
a1648 Ld. Herbert Life (1976) 14 When occasion of offence was giuen him. I haue seene him redden in the Face.
1678 R. L'Estrange tr. Of Anger x. 81 in Seneca's Morals Abstracted (1679) Some Redden when they are Angry. Sylla was one of those; and when the Blood Flush'd into his Face, you might be sure he had Malice in his Heart.
1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 450 He would redden with Rage.
1781 W. Cowper Anti-Thelypthora 204 Reddening with a just and generous pride.
1834 H. Martineau Farrers of Budge-Row ii. 32 There was no more to be said; but Jane reddened all over.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. v. 124 She reddened..and said..‘I have a great admiration for Byron.’
1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd I. iii. 30 It was a time to see a woman redden... From the Maiden's Blush..down to the Crimson Tuscany, the countenance of Oak's acquaintance quickly graduated.
1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 16/4 A maddened expression leaped into Molly's eyes. ‘I drive there every day, but they won't let me see him,’ she said, reddening.
1971 I. Metzker & D. L. Levy tr. Bintel Brief 88 Every time I kiss the child I feel my wife's eyes on me, as if she wanted to shout, ‘Murderer!’ but she doesn't utter a word—only her face reddens.
2004 Daily Tel. 20 Apr. 21/1 ‘You are an optician, I believe,’ said an interviewer. ‘Well, I fit contact lenses,’ she replied, reddening, unwilling even to acknowledge professional success in the eyewear industry.
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1807 G. Crabbe Parish Reg. iii, in Poems 116 Here cloth'd and fed, no sooner he began To round and redden, than away he ran.
1868 F. N. Broome Poems from N.Z. 87 And faces where famine sat sallow, That redden with fulness of bread.
3. intransitive. Of the eyes: to become pink or red around the rims, esp. because of tears.
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1679 tr. M.-M. de La Fayette Princess of Cleves ii. 135 As she said these words, her Eyes redden'd.
1770 tr. A. F. Prévost Mem. Man of Quality II. xvi. 211 In spite of her firmness, her eyes reddened, and she shed a profusion of sorrow.
1879 L. B. Day Recoll. A. Duff xvi. 215 How his eyes reddened! How he sobbed!
1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 3 Nov. b1 He rolls his pudgy fingers into balls and his eyes redden as he tells his story.
2002 B. Goobie Lottery vi. 66 Her mother's eyes reddened... ‘You have a good day, sweetie,’ she said huskily.
4. Astronomy.
a. intransitive. Of a celestial object: to emit light that is of a longer wavelength (lower energy) and hence appears redder in colour.See note at sense 4b.
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1852 tr. A. Von Humboldt Cosmos III. 114 Captain Bérard..wrote from Madagascar in 1847, that he had for some years perceived α Crucis to be reddening.
1903 A. M. Clerke Probl. Astrophysics ii. xxii. 358 The curves of light-change..should flow parallel to one another; they would merge together if the star blanched, and diverge still farther if it reddened.
1973 V. Canuto in E. Abecassis de Laredo & N. K. Jurisic Sel. Topics Physics, Astrophysics & Biophysics 337 This increased area means that in order to maintain the same luminosity the temperature lowers, i.e., the surface reddens.
2000 S. Lilly in P. Binétruy Primordial Universe i. iv. 30 In broad terms, a given stellar population starts off bright and blue and reddens with time as the Main Sequence burns down.
2007 L. S. Sparke & J. S. Gallagher Galaxies in Universe (ed. 2) vi. 267 Over time the galaxy fades and slowly reddens, as the 4000 Å break becomes more pronounced.
b. transitive. To cause (light) from a celestial object to increase in wavelength and hence appear redder; to affect the light from (a star) in this way.The effect arises when some of the energy of the light is lost, e.g. through absorption by intervening material or from the effect of gravity, and also when its wavelength is increased as a result of the source receding from the observer (cf. redshift n.). The latter phenomenon arises in connection with the expansion of the universe. Cf. earlier intransitive use at sense 4a.
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1919 Sci. Monthly Dec. 509 If finely divided matter exists in inter-stellar space, the more distant stars will be distinctly reddened.
1933 A. S. Eddington Expanding Universe i. 23 The light coming to us from an atom on the sun uses up some of its energy in escaping from the sun's gravitational attraction, and consequently becomes slightly reddened.
1941 Sci. News Let. 1 Nov. 283/2 One such cloud reddens appreciably the brighter stars in the vicinity of the North Pole.
1958 Listener 11 Dec. 971/2 When we look at these distant regions we find that the light is reddened, indicating that the galaxies are receding from us.
1968 Times 13 Nov. 16/2 The other [view]..is that quasars are extremely massive objects, and that the light from them is reddened by gravitational effects.
2006 J. Silk Infinite Cosmos vi. 48 Scattering reddens the light of background stars.
5. intransitive. Of a pullet: to acquire a deeper shade of red in the comb and wattles as the bird approaches maturity and prepares to begin laying. Frequently with up.
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [verb (intransitive)] > have specific physical characteristics (of hen)
redden1909
1909 T. W. Sturges Poultry Man. vii. 106 When a pullet is about to redden up and develop her comb previous to laying, the change from one pen to another will check this development.
1923 Times 17 Sept. 20/3 The rather more generous ration..is usually sufficient to bring into profitable production pullets..that are reddening in comb and showing the usual signs of an inclination to lay.
1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 332/3 If any [pullets] appear unlikely to start ‘reddening up’ for a month or more, they should..be sold immediately.
1967 T. R. Morris in T. C. Carter Environmental Control in Poultry Production ii. 27 Once the flock has begun to ‘redden up’ it is usually too late to alter sexual maturity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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