▪ I. crimson, a. and n.
(ˈkrɪmz(ə)n)
Forms: 5–6 cremesin(e, -yn(e, -ysyn, crimesin, -yne, crymysyn, -esyn, -asyn(e, cramoysin, -en, -mysin, cremoysin, (crenseyn), 6 cremosin, crimison, -ozen, (chrymesyn), cremsin, crymsen, -on(e, 6–7 crimosin(e, -yn(e, crymosen, -in(e, crimsin, (7 crimzon, -sone), 6– crimson.
[The 15th c. cremesin(e corresponds exactly to early Sp. cremesin (cited 1403–12), early It. cremesino and med.L. cremesīnus, variants (by metathesis of r) of med.L. kermesīnus, carmesinus, It. chermesino, carmesino, Sp. carmesin (16th c.), f. It. chermis{iacu}, cremes{iacu}, Sp. carmes{iacu} (cited 1422), (a. Arab. qermazi, qirmazī: see cramoisy) + suffix -ino, L. -īnus: see -ine. Thence our 16th c. variants. The corresponding 15–16th c. F. form was cramoisin (Littré), whence occasional Eng. cramoysine; the disturbing influence of this probably appears also in cremosin, crimosin, crimison, crimson.]
A. adj.
1. The name of a colour: of a deep red somewhat inclining towards purple; of the colour of an alkaline infusion of cochineal.
Historically, the colour obtained from the Kermes or Scarlet Grain insect, at first chiefly used in dyeing fine cloth and velvet (F. velours cramoisi), in connexion with which this shade of red was first distinguished in English.
| c 1440 Partonope 5976 A mantel..Of rede saten full good cremesyn. 1462 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 149 A jaket off crymysyn clothe. 1517 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 86 My gowne of crymsen velwett. 1548 Hall Chron. 116 b, All appareled in Crimosyne clothe. 1549 Chaloner Erasmus on Folly O iv b, This cramoysen gowne. 1568 Turner Herbal iii. 16 It hath a cremesin color. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 67 Some of them glitter with a perfect crimson dye. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. ii. 130 Dyed in Lilly white and Cremsin redde. 1626 Bacon Sylva §224 Two Lanthorns..the one a Crimsin, and the other an Azure. 1670–98 R. Lassels Voy. Italy I. 68 Velvet coats of crimosin colour. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vii. i. §8. 110 Why..are the most distant clouds crimsonest? 1866 Kingsley Herew. x. 186 She turned deadly pale and then crimson. |
2. fig. Often used with reference to blood; sanguinary.
| a 1681 Sir G. Wharton Wks. (1683) 340 Why may not I some Crimson Lines leave out, To save my Ankles from the Prison-gout? 1777 Sir W. Jones Pal. Fortune 19 Crimson conquest glow'd where'er he trod. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 81 The crimson crime, The basest in the book of Time. |
B. n. (The adj. used absolutely.)
1. The colour or pigment.
| a 1400 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 241 The most costyous cloth of crenseyn. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 523 Cladde in one lyuerey of browne..and..in blewe and cremesyne. 1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII, c. 14 Of the Colour of Crymesyn or blewe. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 323 Ros'd ouer with the Virgin Crimson of Modestie. a 1691 Boyle On Colours (J.), Crimson seems to be little else than a very deep red with an eye of blue. 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing II. ii. iii. v. 195 These salts..have the property of changing the colour of scarlet to crimson. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 537 For pale crimsons the quantity of cochineal is reduced. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxiv. 175 The western heaven glowed with crimson. |
† 2. Crimson cloth. Obs.
| 14.. Epiph. in Tundale's Vis. 114 Was ther any veluet or crymysyn. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xvi. 63 A sleue..of fyne cremoysin alle drawen ouer wyth golde wyer. 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 144 b, Not..clothed in..veluet, sattin, or damaske, or crimosine ingrayned, but in sacke⁓cloth. 1595 Spenser Epithal. 228 Like crimsin dyde in grayne. 1611 Cotgr., Alchermes, a graine wherewith Crimzons are dyed. |
C. Comb., as crimson-barred, crimson-coloured, crimson-dyed, crimson-scarfed, crimson-tipped, crimson-warm adjs.; also with colours, expressing blended shades, as crimson-carmine, crimson-lake, crimson-purple, crimson-violet, etc.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. i. (1641) 86/1 A crimsin-coloured juice. 1683 tr. Erasmus' Moriæ Enc. 56 Those crimson-died crimes. 1786 Burns Mountain Daisy, Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flow'r. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. lviii, The crimson-scarfed men of Macedon. 1877 Black Green Past. xii. (1878) 98 The..crimson-tipped bird's-foot trefoil. 1882 Garden 24 June 435/3 Flaked with crimson-purple. |
▪ II. crimson, v.
(ˈkrɪmz(ə)n)
[f. crimson a.]
1. trans. To make crimson, impart a crimson colour to.
| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 206 Heere thy Hunters stand..Crimson'd in thy Lethee. 1743–6 Shenstone Elegy xx. 55 Stain'd with blood, and crimson'd o'er with crimes. 1768 F. Burney Early Diary 20 May, My cheeks are crimsoned with the blush of indignation. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile iv. 102 A gorgeous sunset was crimsoning the palms and pigeon-towers of Bedreshayn. |
2. intr. To become crimson; esp. in blushing.
| 1805 Southey Madoc in Art. xvii, See his cheek! How it hath crimson'd at the unworthy thought! 1822–56 De Quincey Confess. Wks. V. 89 The ancient collegiate church..beginning to crimson with the deep lustre of a cloudless July morning. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. i. xv. 79 Jane's pale face crimsoned at the idea of parting with it. |
Hence ˈcrimsoned, ˈcrimsoning ppl. adjs.
| 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 1090 The moon..Shows her broad visage in the crimsoned east. a 1853 Robertson Lect. ii. (1858) 57 A crimsoned cheek. 1861 Mrs. Norton Lady La G. iv. 378 As the fresh bud a crimsoning beauty shows. 1879 R. H. Horne Orizaba in Poems of Places 147 They mark the crimsoning sunrise tinge The clouds. |