Red

Red, red, adj. (comp. Red′der; superl. Red′dest) of a colour like blood: ultra-radical, revolutionary.—n. one of the primary colours, of several shades, as scarlet, pink, carmine, vermilion, &c.: a red cent, the smallest coin of the United States.—adjs. Red′-backed, having a red back; Red′-beaked, -billed, having a red beak or bill; Red′-bell′ied, having the under parts red.—n. Red′-bell′y, the United States slider, a terrapin: the Welsh torgoch, a char.—adj. Red′-belt′ed, having a red band or bands.—n. Red′-bird, the common European bullfinch: the United States grosbeak, also the tanager.—adj. Red′-blood′ed, having reddish blood.—ns. Red′-book, a book containing the names of all persons in the service of the state: the peerage; Red′breast, a favourite song-bird, so called from the red colour of its breast, the robin; Red′-bud, the Judas-tree of America; Red′-cabb′age, a variety of cabbage, with purplish heads, used for pickling; Red′-cap, a species of goldfinch, having a conical crest of red feathers on the top of the head: a ghost with long teeth who haunts some Scotch castles; Red′-cent, a copper cent; Red′-chalk, -clay (see Reddle); Red′-coat, a British soldier, so called from his red coat; Red′-cock (slang), an incendiary fire; Red′-cor′al, the most important kind of coral in commerce, found off the coasts of Algiers and Tunis and the Italian islands.—adj. Red′-corpus′cled, having red blood-discs.—n. Red′-Crag, a division of the Pliocene.—adjs. Red′-crest′ed, having a red crest; Red′-cross, wearing or distinguished by a cross of a red colour.—n. the badge and flag adopted by every society, of whatever nation, formed for the aid of the sick and wounded in time of war, recognised by the military authorities of its own nation, and enjoying certain privileges and immunities under the Convention of Geneva (1864).—n. Red′-deer, a species of deer which is reddish-brown in summer: the common stag.—v.t. Red′den, to make red.—v.i. to grow red: to blush.—adj. Red′dish, somewhat red: moderately red.—ns. Red′dishness; Red′-dog, the lowest grade of flour in high milling; Red′-drum, the southern red-fish, or red-bass, of the southern Atlantic coast of the United States; Red′-earth, the reddish loam frequently found in regions composed of limestones; Red′-eye, or Rudd, a fresh-water fish of the same genus as the roach, chub, and minnow.—adjs. Red′-faced (Shak.), having a red face; Red′-fig′ured, relating to an ancient Greek ceramic ware, in which a black glaze was painted over the surface so as to leave the design in the red of the body.—n. Red′-gum, strophulus, a skin disease usually occurring in infants about the time of teething, and consisting of minute red pimples with occasional red patches.—adjs. Red′-haired, Red′-head′ed, having red hair.—n. Red′-hand, a bloody hand: (her.) a sinister hand, erect, open, and 'couped,' the distinguishing badge of baronets.—adj. Red′-hand′ed, in the very act, as if with bloody hands.—n. Red′-head, a person with red hair: the pochard, a red-headed duck.—adj. Red′-hot, heated to redness.—ns. Red′-lac, the Japan wax-tree; Red′-latt′ice (Shak.), an alehouse window, then usually painted red; Red′-lead, a preparation of lead of a fine red colour, used in painting, &c.—adj. Red′-legged, having red legs or feet, as a bird.—n. Red′-legs, the European red-legged partridge: the turnstone: the red-shank: (bot.) the bistort.—adj. Red′-lett′er, having red letters: auspicious or fortunate, as a day, the holidays or saints' days being indicated by red letters in the old calendars.—n. Red′-liq′uor, a crude aluminium acetate, used as a mordant in calico-printing.—adjs. Red′-litt′en, showing a red light; Red′-looked (Shak.), having a red look.—adv. Red′ly.—adj. Red′-mad (prov.), quite mad.—n. Red′-met′al, one of several alloys of copper used in silver-ware: a Japanese alloy used in decorative metal-work.—adj. Red′-necked, having a red neck.—n. Red′ness.—adjs. Red′-nose, -nosed, having a red nose, like a habitual drunkard.—ns. Red′-oak, an oak with heavy and durable reddish wood, rising to ninety feet high in eastern North America; Red′-plague, a form of the plague marked by a red spot or bubo; Red′-poll, a small northern finch: the common European linnet: the North American palm-warbler.—adjs. Red′-polled; Red′-ribbed (Tenn.), having red ribs.—ns. Red′-root, a genus of plants of the natural order Rhamnaceæ—New Jersey Tea; Reds, or Red Republicans (see Republic); Red′-saun′ders, the sliced or rasped heart-wood of Pterocarpus santalinus, used for giving colour to alcoholic liquors &c.—v.i. Red′sear, to break when too hot.—ns. Red′seed, small crustaceans which float on the sea; Red′-shank, an aquatic bird of the snipe family, with legs of a bright-red colour: a name given in ridicule to the Scottish Highlanders, and to the Irish.—adj. Red′-short, noting iron that is brittle at red-heat.—ns. Red′-short′ness; Red′skin, a Red Indian; Red′-staff, a miller's straight-edge, used in dressing millstones; Red′start, a bird belonging to the family of the warblers, appearing in Britain as a summer bird of passage; Red′streak, an apple, so called from the colour of its skin; Red′-tail, the red-tailed buzzard, one of the commonest hawks of North America.—adj. Red′-tailed (Shak.), having a red tail.—ns. Red′-thrush, the red-wing; Red′-top, a kind of bent grass; Red′-wa′ter, a disease of cattle, named from the urine being reddened with the red globules of the blood.—adj. Red′-wat′-shod (Scot.), walking in blood over the shoes.—ns. Red′-weed, the common poppy; Red′-wing, a species of thrush well known in Britain as a winter bird of passage, having an exquisite, clear, flute-like song; Red′wood, a Californian timber-tree, growing to nearly three hundred feet high.—adj. Red′-wud (Scot.), stark mad.—Red-cross knight, a knight having on his shield a red cross; Red ensign, the British flag for all vessels not belonging to the navy, consisting of a plain red flag, having the canton filled by the Union-jack (before 1864 also the special flag of the Red Squadron); Red-gum tree, a species of Eucalyptus attaining the height of 200 feet; Red pheasant, a tragopan; Red snow, snow coloured by the minute alga Protococcus nivalis, found in large patches in arctic and alpine regions.—Indian red, a permanent red pigment, orig. a natural earth rich in oxide of iron, now prepared artificially.—Royal Red Cross, a decoration for nurses, instituted by Queen Victoria in 1883. [A.S. reád; Ger. roth, L. ruber, Gr. e-rythros, Gael. ruath.]