▪ I. rouge, a. and n.1
(ruːʒ)
Also 5 rowdge, Sc. rouch, roche, 6 ruge.
[a. F. rouge:—L. rubeum, acc. of rubeus, related to ruber and rūfus, and ultimately to red. a. and n.1]
A. adj.
1. Rouge Croix (or † Rouge Cross), Rouge Dragon, the titles of two of the Pursuivants of the English College of Arms, so called from their badges.
| 1485 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 384/2 Richard Greenwood, other⁓wise called Rowdgecrosse. 1491 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 179 To Roche Dragon purcyfant of Ingland. 1511 Ibid. IV. 318 Ane pursevant of England callit Rugecorce. 1512 Ibid. 348 To Rugecroce, Inglis pursevant. 1616 Bullokar Eng. Expos., Rougecrosse, the name of an office of one of the Purseuants at armes. Rouge dragon. 1656 [see portcullis n. 4]. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 349 He had been Rouge Croix and Windsore Herald. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6084/4 Rouge Croix, Pursuivant of Arms. Rouge Dragon, Pursuivant of Arms. 1766 Entick London IV. 27 The four pursuivants, who are, Rougecroix, Bluemantle, Rouge⁓dragon, and Portcullis, are also created by the earl-marshal. 1806 A. Duncan Nelson's Funeral 29 Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in close mourning, with his Tabard over his Cloak. Ibid. 30 Rouge Dragon Pursuivant of Arms, habited as Blue Mantle. 1869 Furnivall Q. Eliz. Acad. p. xxiv, To Mr. G. E. Adams, Rouge Dragon,..I tender hearty thanks. |
2. rouge royal, a Belgian marble of a reddish colour. (Cf. Littré, s.v. Royal 18.)
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Rouge Royal, a kind of marble. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 30 Apr. 2/1 Columns of rouge-royal marble stand as sentinels at the foot. |
B. n.1
1. a. A fine red powder prepared from safflower, and used as a cosmetic to give an artificial colour to the cheeks or lips.
| 1753 Ld. Chesterfield World No. 18 ¶12 To lay on a great deal of rouge, in English called paint. 1762 Songs & Poems Costume (Percy Soc.) 240 Let the world be the judge: Why you daub 'em all over with cold-cream and rouge. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 183 A custom..prevails here, of wearing..no rouge. 1807 Robinson Archæol. Græca v. xxv. 543 The Athenian women..applied to their faces a layer of ceruse or white lead, with deep tints of rouge. 1875 Mrs. Randolph Wild Hyacinth I. 19, I recollect I had rubbed rouge on my cheeks and white stuff on my nose. |
| fig. 1762–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1792) II. 188 The glow of modesty is the only rouge that will be allowed to any fair face. 1812 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. (ed. 2) I. 324 Illicit connections she seemed to consider as the rouge of modern character. 1882 ‘F. Anstey’ Vice Versâ xvii. 312, I saw through his rouge with half an eye. |
b. transf. A rouged person.
| 1855 Thackeray Newcomes l, Miss Newcome rode away—back among the roses and the rouges. |
c. attrib. and Comb., as rouge compact, rouge-pot; rouge-maker, rouge-making; rouge-like adj.
| 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 130 A small circular, rouge-like appearance on each cheek. 1813 Moore Post-bag viii. 12 Thy roseate days, When the rich rouge-pot pours its blaze Full o'er thy face. 1851–4 Tomlinson's Cycl. Usef. Arts II. 473/1 Dr. Ure's account of the process of rouge-making. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Rouge and Carmine Maker, a preparer of those colours. 1931 F. L. Allen Only Yesterday v. 107 For every adult woman in the country there were being sold annually over a pound of face powder and no less than eight rouge compacts. |
2. a. A red preparation of oxide of iron, used as a plate powder. Also (usu. with qualifying adj.) applied to polishing powders other than ferric oxide (see quot. 1937).
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 309 The best sort of polishing powder called jewellers' red rouge or plate powder is..precipitated oxide of iron. 1850 Holtzapffel Turning III. 1082 The red and black oxides of iron..are prepared by manufacturing chemists..as polishing powders, commercially known as crocus, rouge, red stuff,..&c. 1884 W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron 44 A bright red pulverulent powder, forming the ‘rouge’ or ‘colcothar’ of commerce. 1937 Industr. Minerals & Rocks (Amer. Inst. Mining & Metall. Engineers) i. 55 Briefly, they [sc. metallic oxide buffing materials] consist of various iron oxides such as crocus (red-brown), rouge (red), black rouge (magnetic iron oxide) mainly for glass, green rouge (chromium oxide) mainly for platinum and stainless steels; satin rouge (lampblack) for celluloid and bone; [etc.]. 1962 R. Webster Gems I. xx. 366 The polishing powder..may be either rouge (iron oxide), green rouge (chromium oxide), putty powder..or rotten-stone. |
| attrib. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 50 Using a rouge leather to touch up highly polished surfaces. |
b. rouge flambé (ruʒ flɑ̃be), a brilliant red glaze for porcelain, orig. Chinese, made from copper oxide.
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 875/2 Even the long-sought secret of the Chinese sang de boeuf and rouge flambé glazes has been worked out in Europe. 1912 A. Bennett Matador of Five Towns 4 A few specimens of modern rouge flambé ware made at Knype. 1960 R. G. Haggar Conc. Encycl. Continental Pott. & Porc. 124/1 He succeeded in producing a fine rouge flambé and an admirable turquoise blue glaze. 1967 M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World iii. 95 Copper oxide..can—under suitable conditions in a reducing atmosphere—produce the extremely brilliant red of rouge flambé. a 1977 Harrison Mayer Ltd. Catal. 14/2 Rouge flambe, sang de boeuf, a red glaze originating in China, its rich colour being due to a copper glaze fired under reducing conditions. |
c. rouge de fer (ruʒ də fɛr), an orange-red enamel colour made from a base of ferric oxide and used on Chinese porcelain.
| 1922 Daily Tel. 12 June 20/5 (Advt.), A pair of famille verte baluster vases enamelled in birds and flowering prunus, in green, rouge de fer, yellow, and aubergine, 17½ in. high. 1939 Burlington Mag. Apr. p. xv/1 A pair of famille-verte jars and covers,..with rouge-de-fer borders. 1959 Times 3 Mar. 7/2 A pair of eighteenth century models of dogs enamelled in rouge de fer realized 170 guineas. 1980 Catal. Fine Chinese Ceramics (Sotheby, Hong Kong) 166 All in tomato-red ‘rouge-de-fer’ and gilding. |
3. = red n.1 6 b.
| 1821 Sporting Mag. VII. 285 So his men fac'd about and they fought, and gave all the rouges a good dusting. 1897 W. C. Hazlitt Four Generations II. 181 De Merger was in politics a Rouge, and belonged to a very advanced political club at Tours. 1900 Q. Rev. Apr. 339 Politically they [sc. Canadians] were divided into Conservatives, Liberals, Radicals, Clear-Grits and Rouges. |
4. a. Rouge et Noir (ruʒ e nwar), a game at cards, so called because the table at which it is played has two red and two black diamond-shaped marks, upon which the players place their stakes according to the colour they favour. Also fig.
| 1791–8 [see c.]. 1808 Sporting Mag. XXX. 26 The foreign games of Roulet and Rouge et Noir. 1817 Ibid. L. 129 He..allowed a game called Rouge et Noir to be played by various persons. 1823 Barnewall & Cresswell Rep. I. 272 A certain unlawful game of cards called ‘Rouge et Noir’. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xliv, If we'd gone to Rouge et Noir, I must have won. 1886 Hardy Mayor Casterbr. I. x. 123 The rich rouge-et-noir of his countenance underwent a slight change. 1920 H. Crane Let. 18 Aug. (1965) 41, I am sure there is more of a ‘rouge et noir’ cast to your surrender. 1958 L. Durrell Balthazar iii. 61 You are not the sort of man to stake everything on a single throw at rouge et noir. |
b. ellipt. A rouge-et-noir table.
| 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xliv, You have been at the Rouge et Noir: you were there last night. |
c. attrib. with debt, game, table.
| 1791 in A. C. Bower Diaries & Corr. (1903) 140 There is another new Table brought up, called the Rouge & Noir game. 1798 Sporting Mag. XII. 53 A Rouge et Noir table with its appendages. 1827 Lytton Falkland 23 The sons who had horses to sell and rouge-et-noir debts to pay. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter i. 55 The billiard-room and the rouge-et-noir table. |
5. a. The red colour in the game of rouge et noir.
| 1805 New Pocket Hoyle 117 Another parcel is then dealt for rouge in a similar manner. 1827 Lytton Pelham xix, He set them all at one hazard on the rouge. 1850 Bohn's Hdbk. Games (1867) 343 The first parcel of cards played is usually for noir, the second for rouge. 1867 [see couleur 2]. 1928, 1964 [see noir 2 b]. |
b. The red numbers in the game of roulette.
| [1850 Bohn's Hand-bk. Games 348 The other chances are also designated on the green cloth,..on one side ‘l'impair, la manque, et le rouge’.] 1923, etc. [see manque]. 1928, etc. [see noir 2 a]. |
6. French red wine; = red n.1 3 b. Also in Comb.
| 1957 L. Durrell Spirit of Place (1969) 143 You should see..the care with which they select a good bottle of champagne..or even an ordinary rouge at a shilling. 1976 N. Roberts Face of France xv. 153 The accompanying glass of wine..is only rouge supérieure. |
▪ II. rouge, n.2
(ruːdʒ)
Also rooge, ruge.
[Eton school term, of obscure origin.]
1. Eton Football. A scrimmage. Also transf.
| 1863 Kinglake Crimea II. 412 He wedged his cob into the thick of the crowd—the ‘rooge’, he would call it in his old Eton idiom of speech. 1875 Punch 27 Feb. 88/2 Then followed a lively ‘rouge’, or ‘scrimmage’, in which most of the leading lawyers of the House took part. 1899 Sir H. West Recoll. II. xxi. 276 The Peers and under-the-Gallery people acting exactly as we used to in a ‘rouge’ at football at Eton. |
2. a. Eton Football. (See quot. 1892.)
| 1864 [Hemyng] Eton School Days xxiii. 260 Next to a goal, a ruge is the best thing you can have. 1868 Hurst Johnlan Mag. X. 349 The School gained three rouges, but each time the place-kick at the goal was unsuccessful. 1892 F. Marshall Football 34 (Eton), Should..the ball go behind from the charge and be touched by one of the attacking side, a ‘rouge’ will be scored. Now three rouges make a goal. |
b. Canadian Football. (See quots. 1895 and 1954.)
| 1895 Outing XXVII. 249/2 A ‘rouge’ occurs when a man, in order to save his team from a ‘try’ being tallied against them, himself touches the ball down behind his own goal, and thereby gives one point to the opposing side. 1954 Sun (Baltimore) 11 Dec. 11/7 The ‘rouge’ is a point scored when a kick into the end zone isn't run out or when the kick goes clear through the 25-yard-wide zone. 1959 Times 30 Nov. (Canada Suppl.) p. xx/1 In Canada we also have the rouge, which is a kicked single point. 1966 Weekend Mag. (Montreal) 27 Aug. 20/2 If only our rouge were added to the American game, football..wouldn't leave a thing to be desired as a game. 1976 Webster's Sports Dict. 357/1 Rouge, Canadian football, a score of one point awarded to the kicking team when a member of the receiving team fails to run a kickoff or a punt out of his own end zone. |
▪ III. rouge, v.1
(ruːʒ)
[f. rouge n.1]
1. a. trans. To colour with rouge.
| 1777 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 178 His face was very delicately rouged. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., G. Barnwell, Her face was rouged up to the eyes. 1827 Lady Morgan O'Briens & O'Flahertys II. 28 Lady Knocklofty, dear, says I, I wish you would allow me to rouge you. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 167 No sheep sent to shows are allowed to have their coats rouged. |
b. fig. To cause to colour or blush.
| 1815 F. Burney Diary (1876) IV. 284 Madame.., though rouged the whole time with confusion, never ventured to address a word to me. 1867 A. J. Wilson Vashti xxx, Her thin but still lovely features, rouged by a hectic glow. |
2. a. intr. To employ rouge on the face.
| 1782 F. Burney Cecilia i. iii, One of them asserting boldly that she rouged well, a debate ensued, which ended in a bet. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. v. (1869) 120 Rouge high enough, and never mind the natural complexion. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lxiv, She rouged regularly now. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths III. 17 Vera would be a sublime wax doll, if she rouged. |
b. fig. To colour, to blush.
| 1780 F. Burney Diary I. 321 They all stared, and to be sure I rouged pretty high. 1954 H. Gold in New World Writing VI. 13 You should have seen me rouge all over. |
▪ IV. rouge, v.2 rare—1.
(Perh. the same as Cornish dial. rooge, to handle roughly.)
| 1612 W. Parkes Curtaine-Dr. 21, I am so valerous that I dare rate And rouge ten Sergeants at the Counter-gate. |