▪ I. vermilion, n. and a.
(vəˈmɪljən)
Forms: α. 3 vermelyon, 6 -eleon, -eleoun; 4–5 vermilyon, 5 -ylyoun, 5–6 -ylyon(e, 6 -ylion; 4–5 vermilioun, 5– vermilion (6–7 -milian, 7 virmilion). β. 4 vermeillone, 5 -elone, 5–7 -elon, 6 Sc. -eloun; 4–5 vermylone, 4 fer-, 5 vermyloun, 5–6 vermylon; 4–5 vermulon, 4–5 vermilon(e, -iloun; also 6 vermelonde, Sc. wermeling, -myling. γ. 6–9 vermillion, 7 virmillion.
[a. AF. and OF. vermeillon, vermillon, vermilo(u)n, etc. (mod.F. vermillon, = Prov. vermeillon, vermillon, vermelho, Cat. bermello, Sp. bermellon, bermillon, vermellon, Pg. vermelhaõ, It. vermiglione), f. vermeil vermeil a. Hence also Du. vermiljoen, Da. and Sw. vermilion.]
A. n.
1. Cinnabar or red crystalline mercuric sulphide, esp. in later use that obtained artificially, much valued on account of its brilliant scarlet colour, and largely used as a pigment or in the manufacture of red sealing-wax; also, any red earth resembling this and similarly used as a pigment.
In early use rendering L. minium and occas. confused with ‘red lead’ (as in quot. 1546 in β): see minium.
| α 1296 Acc. Exch. K.R. 5/20 m. 4 In duabus libris de Vermelyon emptis. 1336–7 Ely Sacr. Rolls (1907) II. 83 In ij libris de vermilioun empt. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 508 Vermylyone, minium. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. Adm. i. in Ashm. Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652) 189 Many Experyments I have had in hond;..Which I wyll tell the rehersyng sone: Begynnyng wyth Vermylion. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) K k j, All the Decade was written with blacke ynke, and these wordes with redde vermylyon. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 384 Cinoper or vermilion which the paynters vse in certeyne coloures. 1626 Bacon Sylva §291 Metals give Orient and fine Colours..in their Putrefactions or Rusts, as Vermilion, Verde-grease [etc.]. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. 119 This will be..as ready to you, as if these Letters were painted out for you in Vermilion. 1758 Reid tr. Macquer's Chym. I. 82 Cinabar finely levigated acquires a much brighter red colour, and is known to painters by the name of Vermilion. 1841 Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. xii, All this while Mary was anxiously looking in his face,..as pale as death; while Gus..was as red as vermilion. 1871 Garrod Mat. Med. (ed. 3) 103 Dark scarlet shining crystalline masses, forming, when powdered, a beautiful scarlet colour, known by the name of vermilion. |
| β 1300–1 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 503 In tribus libr. Gummi, di. li. de vermiloun, iij s. 1356 Pipe Roll 32 Edw. III, m. 33/2 b, In..ij. clench' hamers, iiij. boltes ferri,..xxxj. lb. de vermeillone. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 63 Of the..strondes of þe Reed See is i-gadered vermylon. Ibid. II. 331 And þere is i-founde scharpe fermyloun [L. minium]. c 1400 Pety Job 580 in 26 Pol. Poems 139 Ynke blak or rede, Made with gumme and vermylone. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 4717 We may al day oure colour grynde & bete, Tempre our azour and vermyloun. 1480 Robt. Devyll 21 Robertes clothes were readde as vermulon. 1505–6 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. III. 184 For iij di. pund vermeloun to him, xiiij s. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. de Invent. ii. xiv. 59 b, Vermilon or redde lead was founde in Ephesus by Gallius an Athenien. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 98 The Parret..about hir necke..hath a Collar or Chaine naturally wrought like to Sinople or Vermelon. 1609 Bible (Douay) Isa. i. 18 If they be red as vermelon, they shal be white as wooll. |
| γ 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 901 I'le onely now emboss my Book with Brass, Dye't with Vermillion, deck't with Coperass. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 46 Mingle..Vermillion with Masticke for a red colour. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xi. 237 Quicke-silver is found in a kinde of stone, which dooth likewise yeelde Vermillion. 1698 Froger Voy. 112 Calices..made of Gold, Vermillion, and silver. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 8 New cloathing them in vermillion and ultramarine. 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) IV. 397 Dust the colour of vermillion. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1278 The vermillion of commerce is often adulterated with red lead, brickdust, dragon's blood, and realgar. 1865 Watts Dict. Chem. III. 912 Mercuric Sulphide,..in the latter [crystallised state],..has a fine red colour and constitutes the well-known pigment called cinnabar or vermillion. |
b. Used as a cosmetic or for painting the body.
In later use chiefly with reference to the ‘war-paint’ of the American Indians.
| 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 144 The morrow after a companie of women goe to dresse the bride, to combe her locks, and to paint her cheekes with vermillion. 16.. Middleton Old Law iii. i, The old wrinkles are well filled up, but the vermillion is seen too thick. 1635 Swan Spec. M. vi. (1643) 294 Camillus, when he triumphed in Rome, was painted with this Vermilion. 1788 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 542/2 A thick coat of vermilion commonly distinguishes the [Red Indian's] cheeks. 1809 A. Henry Trav. 247 The men were almost entirely naked, and their bodies painted with a red ochre, procured in the mountains, and often called vermilion. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 71 Happy was he who could render himself hideous with vermilion. 1843 Marryat M. Violet xxiii, When does a Comanche turn his back on receiving the vermilion from his chief? Never! |
2. The colour of this pigment; a bright red or scarlet.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 4336 Nouthire to toly ne to taunde transmitte we na vebbis, To vermylion ne violett ne variant littis. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas ii. xiii. (1554) 51 b, Fenix as Clerkes eke endite Found fyrst the colour of vermilion. 1530 Palsgr. 284/2 Vermylon, reed colour, uermillon. 1587 A. Day Daphnis & Chloe (1890) 51 A vermillion more perfect, thair rested in the freshe springing rose. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. v. 9 Streames of bloud..With which the armes, that earst so bright did show, Into a pure vermillion now are dyde. 1638 Guillim's Her. (ed. 3) i. ii. 19 Amongst Colours..this Colour Vermilion, or Red, hath the prime place. 1646 J. Hall Poems 52 A Rose can more Vermilion speake, Then any cheeke. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. i. 649 His long Chin prov'd his Wit; his Saint-like Grace A Church Vermilion, and a Moses's Face. 1708 Ozell tr. Boileau's Lutrin 30 Streight the Vermillion vanish'd from her Face. 1793 Beddoes Calculus 230 The blood became of a brighter vermilion. 1822 [M. A. Kelty] Osmond I. 274 The soft vermillion..of her complexion. 1838 Thirlwall Greece II. xv. 255 The negroes of Nubia—with their bodies painted half white, half vermilion. 1882 Garden 23 Dec. 548/1 The colour is a vivid vermilion. |
† b. A blush. Obs.—1
| 1787 Minor iii. ix. 183 Miss Charlotte..never beheld me without the vermillions increasing in her cheeks. |
† 3. a. (Rendering L. vermiculum.) Wool or yarn of a red or scarlet colour. Obs.
| 1388 Wyclif Exod. xxxv. 25 Tho thingis, whiche thei hadden spunne, iacynt, purpur, and vermyloun, and bijs. ― Lev. xiv. 4 He schal comaunde to the man which is clensid, that he offre for hymsilf..a tree of cedre, and vermylyoun, and isope. |
† b. A fabric dyed with vermilion. Obs.—1
| 1641 L. Roberts Treas. Traffick 33 They buy Cotton wooll, in London,..and perfit it into Fustians, Vermilions, Dymities, and other such Stuffes. |
† 4. A red or reddish coloured variety of pear.
| 1699 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (ed. 9) 169 Pears:..Ambrosia, Vermilian, Lunsac. |
† 5. (Also vermilion-stone.) A particular gem or precious stone. Cf. vermeil n. 3. Obs.
| 1703–4 in Ashton Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne (1882) I. xiv. 181 Several Gold Rings set with Turky and Vermillions. a 1728 Woodward Fossils (1729) I. i. 191 The Common Crystal..appears to be the Basis..of the Opal,..the Jacinth, the Vermilion. 1747 Phil. Trans. XLIV. 504 The Vermilion-Stone is more tawny than the Jacinth. |
6. a. Comb., as vermilion-dyed, vermilion-like adjs.; † vermilion-writer, a scribe or illuminator using vermilion.
| c 1470 Cath. Angl. 400 A vermylon wrytter, minographus. 1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 125 b, Those dawbed, pargetted, vermilion died faces. 1647 Hexham i, Vermillion like, roodtachtigh. |
b. attrib. with colour, etc. (passing into next); hence in combs., as vermilion-coloured.
| 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 327 The face is painted with a vermillion colour. 1655 tr. Sorel's Com. Hist. Francion i. iii. 56 It was of a vermilian colour like blood. 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics 465 Modesty..is a tincture of humility, visible in a vermilion and deeper die. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., A vermilion Tincture, couleur vermeille. 1697 Dryden Virg., Past. x. 40 Great Pan arrived;..His cheeks and temples of vermilion hue. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Vermillion-Tincture, a Natural red Die upon the Face; a Cherry-red. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Kermes, Unless, perhaps, it be so call'd from its beautiful Vermillion Colour. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 381 Of a vermilion hue. 1835 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 414 If vermilion-coloured blood be subjected to the action of carbonic acid. 1856 Henslow Dict. Bot. Terms 107 Miniatus (of a vermillion colour). |
B. adj. Having the colour of vermilion; of a bright red or scarlet colour.
| 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 45 Shee..died her cheekes with such a vermillion blush. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. x. 153 The pure vermillion bloud, that issu'd from her vaines. 1639 G. Daniel Vervic. 442 Let, let, that fatall Day record my Name, In bright vermilion Letters. 1675 Hobbes Odyssey 101 For the good ship with the vermilion cheeks The Cyclopses have not. a 1721 Prior Vicar of Bray & Sir T. Moor ¶64 A lusty young Fellow with large white Teeth, and a Vermillion countenance. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. lxvii. VI. 462 The Greek monarch..with his own hand impressed three vermillion crosses on the golden bull. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xvi, How warm [the room] in its amber lamp-light, and vermilion fire-flush! 1878 H. M. Stanley Dark Cont. II. vi. 167 The handiwork of their artisans in copper and iron and wood, the vermilion camwood. |
| Comb. 1818 Keats Endymion ii. 111 All my clear-eyed fish, Golden, or rainbow-sided, or purplish, Vermilion-tail'd. |
† b. Painted with vermilion; rouged. Obs.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 27 These vermillion Nymphs, to let me vnderstand they trauelled with a chearefull stomacke, would oft runne races. |
c. With names of colours, as vermilion-crimson, vermilion-red, vermilion-scarlet, vermilion-tawny, etc.
| 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 411 With mercury, a vermilion red; with silver, a carmine red. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 246 Rump and upper coverts vermilion-red. 1882 Garden 15 July 57/3 Well formed flowers of a brilliant vermilion-crimson. Ibid. 14 Oct. 347/2 The colour being a vivid vermilion-scarlet. 1887 W. Phillips Brit. Discomycetes 85 Peziza asperior... Scattered, vermilion-tawny, applanate. |
▪ II. verˈmilion, v.
Also 7–9 vermillion, 7 virmilion.
[f. the n. Cf. OF. vermeilloner, later and mod.F. vermilloner.]
1. trans. To colour or paint with, or as with, vermilion; to give the colour of vermilion to (the face, etc.).
| 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xvi. ci. 400 Nay, why should faces faire indeed bo-peepe behinde a Fanne, Or be conceild in Satten, now Vermiliond, now drugd wanne. 1740 tr. De Mouhy's Fort. Country-Maid (1741) II. 85, I disapprov'd of the Red with which their Faces were vermillion'd. 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans IV. 215 Lusty lovely health vermillions the honest cheek. 1771–2 Ess. fr. Batchelor (1773) I. 93 When a blush vermilions the face of a well-bred woman. 1812 G. Colman Br. Grins, Lady of Wreck ii. viii, A transient hectic spread, Vermilioning health's softer red. a 1849 J. C. Mangan Sel. Poems (1897) 105 The pall of the sunset fell, Vermilioning earth and water. |
| fig. 1667 Denham Direct. Paint. iv. viii, Vermilion this mans guilt, ceruse his fears. a 1849 J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 154 By thee [sc. Hope] are his visions vermillioned. |
b. Const. over (o'er).
| 1656 S. Holland Zara (1719) 32 That lip..was not Vermillion'd over for any to kiss. 1697 Congreve Mourn. Bride ii. iii, I..chaf'd Thy temples, 'till reviving blood arose, And, like the morn, vermillion'd o'er thy face. 1769 W. Jackson in Monthly Rev. XLII. 171 The choicest fruits..vermillioned over with maiden blushes. |
c. slang. To cover or besmear with blood.
| 1817 Sporting Mag. L. 53 Holt's face was completely vermillioned. |
2. intr. To blush. rare— 0.
| 1719 Boyer Dict. Royal ii. s.v. |
Hence verˈmilioned ppl. a.
| 1615 A. Niccholes Marriage & Wiving vii. 21 To what end is the laying out of the embrodred haire, embared breasts, virmilioned cheekes, alluring lookes [etc.]. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Verjuice, The Secret how to keep Verjuice Grapes, as vermillion'd and as fresh as if they were growing. 1773 J. Ross Fratricide v. 697 (MS.), Those once-vermillion'd lips now pale with death! 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Acharnians i. i, The citizens are..running up and down, To get away from the vermilion'd rope. 1867 A. J. Wilson Vashti xxv, Then, pink flesh, hazel eyes, vermilioned lips, and glossy hair had preferred incontestable claims to beauty. |