Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A vivid red to reddish orange.
- adjective Of a vivid red to reddish orange.
- transitive verb To color or dye (something) in the hue vermilion.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To color with or as with vermilion; dye red; cover or suffuse with a bright red.
- noun The kermes- or cochineal-insect; also, the product of cochineal; worm-dye.
- noun The red sulphid of mercury, or the mineral cinnabar, occurring in nature of a red-brown to a carmine-red color; also, a pigment formerly made by grinding selected pieces of native cinnabar, but now made artificially.
- noun A color such as that of the above pigment; a beautiful brilliant red color.
- noun A cotton cloth dyed with vermilion.
- noun Same as
vermeil , 4. - Of the color of vermilion; of the brilliant pure-red color common in the bloom of the single scarlet geranium: as, a vermilion dye.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To color with vermilion, or as if with vermilion; to dye red; to cover with a delicate red.
- noun (Chem.) A bright red pigment consisting of mercuric sulphide, obtained either from the mineral cinnabar or artificially. It has a fine red color, and is much used in coloring sealing wax, in printing, etc.
- noun Hence, a red color like the pigment; a lively and brilliant red.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
vivid red synthetic pigment made of mercury sulfide. - noun A vivid red or slightly
orange colour . - noun A type of red dye worn in the parting of the hair by married Hindu women.
- noun A red skin of the lip or its border with the skin of the face.
- adjective Having a
brilliant red colour. - adjective Having the color of the vermilion dye.
- verb transitive To color or paint vermilion.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb color vermilion
- noun a variable color that is vivid red but sometimes with an orange tinge
- adjective of a vivid red to reddish-orange color
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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By other means it can be prepared as a brilliant red powder known as vermilion, which is used as a pigment in fine paints.
An Elementary Study of Chemistry William McPherson
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She rubs her forehead against the bride's so as to colour it also with vermilion, which is now considered the symbol of a long and happy married life.
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II R. V. Russell
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Another rite portraying the transfer in India is the marking of the bride's forehead with vermilion, which is no doubt a substitute for blood.
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894
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When the stout foliage grows glossy, waved, and of a deep clear green colour, the edges of the leaves become lined with red as if hemmed with red silk; the leaves also have the edges irregular in form, the outline broadly oval, 4in. to 6in. long, and they are veined and slightly wrinkled; during the autumn a yellow tint starts from the edge, and in time becomes a vermilion, which is all the more effective from the leaf being of leather-like substance.
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Much gilding was used in the stucco-work, especially of the cupolas: and the interstices were delicately pencilled with brilliant colors, such as vermilion and lapis lazuli, laid on with the whites of eggs.
The Alhambra 2002
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Much gilding was used in the stucco-work, especially of the cupolas: and the interstices were delicately pencilled with brilliant colors, such as vermilion and lapis lazuli, laid on with the whites of eggs.
The Alhambra 2002
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Another kind of "vermilion" consists entirely of peroxide of iron, prepared especially to imitate the brilliant and costly sulphide of mercury, which it does very well, and is largely used in England, France, and America.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 315, January 14, 1882 Various
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Our opinion, expressed with some diffidence, is, that pigments whose colour depends on the union of sulphur with a metal -- such as vermilion and cadmium yellow -- are more stable when the sulphur is forced to bite into the base.
Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists George Field
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In the case of a very heavy colour such as vermilion, a drop of glue solution will keep the colour smooth for printing, and less paste is necessary.
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In the case of a very heavy colour such as vermilion a drop of glue and water may help; but with practically all the colours that are generally used the rice paste and careful printing are enough.
brtom commented on the word vermilion
"In amazon costume, hard hat, jackboots cockspurred, vermilion waistcoat, fawn musketeer gauntlets with braided drums, long train held up and hunting crop with which she strikes her welt constantly."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15
February 8, 2007
oroboros commented on the word vermilion
also see vermillion.
November 17, 2007
knitandpurl commented on the word vermilion
"I wanted to know the original spelling of the name Jean. I learned it when I received a letter from a nephew of Mme de Villeparisis who signs himself—as he was christened, as he figures in the Almanach de Gotha—Jehan de Villeparisis, with the same handsome, superfluous, heraldic h that we admire, illuminated in vermilion or ultramarine, in a Book of Hours or in a stained-glass window."
--The Captive & The Fugitive by Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright, p 39 of the Modern Library paperback edition
December 25, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word vermilion
Usage note in comment on mercuric sulfide and kermes, and on wormberry.
Also, "Those who turned to the Bible to reconcile the controversy were disappointed. Although the Vulgate used the word <i>vermilion</i>, or 'little worm,' to describe the color produced by grain, lending credence to the idea that the dyestuff had animal origins, the Bible made no definite pronouncements either way."
October 4, 2017