▪ I. azure, n. and a.
(ˈæʒə(r), ˈæʒ(j)ʊə(r), ˈeɪ-)
Forms: 4 azer, 4–5 asur(e, 5 aser(e, aserre, 6 asour, aisur, 7 azur, 5– azure.
[a. OF. azur, asur (11th c.), cogn. with Pr., OSp. azur, Pg., Sp. azul, It. azzurro, azzuolo, med.L. azura, azzurum, azolum, adaptations of Arabic (al-)lazward, a. Pers. lājward, lāzhward, lapis lazuli, blue colour. The initial l is absent in the Romance langs., apparently having been dropped along with Arabic article al-, or as if it were the article l'. It remains in med.Gr. λαζούριον, and med.L. lazurius, lazur, lazulus, lapis lazuli, literary forms taken directly from oriental authors or sources.]
A. n.
1. The precious stone lapis lazuli.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1411 Al in asure & ynde enaumayld. Ibid. 1457 Bassynes ful bryȝt of brende golde clere, Enaumaylde with azer. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1321 A broche of golde and asure. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 351 Ther gold and sylvyr wase spred, And asur that wase blewe. 1509 Barclay Ship of Fooles (1570) 169 This tombe was..set with precious stone, Alayde with asour. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 65 Richly gilded, and adorned with Azure, and Mosaicke workmanship. 1783 W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. I. 131 About Tauris, the mineral azure is also found. |
2. A bright blue pigment or dye;
ellipt. a fabric dyed of this colour.
a. of Almayne: ? Prussian blue.
(Ultramarine is made from powdered lapis lazuli.)
| c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 330 Youre figure Before me stante Cloothed in Asure. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. ii, And gan forthwith with golde and asure paint. 1502 Arnold Chron. 169 Make an hole in a tree..doo in y⊇ hole good asure of almayne..and the frute shalbe blew colour. 1552 Act 5–6 Edw. VI, vi. §11 All broad Plunkets, Azures, Blewes and other coloured Cloth. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 484 Cæruleum or Azur, is a certaine sandy grit or pouder. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts I. 874 The darkest-coloured smalts, known as King's-blue or azure. |
3. Her. The blue colour in coats of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal lines.
| a 1330 Sire Degarré 995 With the scheld of asur, And thre bor heuedes ther in. 1429 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 142 Thre flour-de-lys of gold, The fielde of asure. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry i. iii. (1660) 19 Blew..in Blazon is termed Azure. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Azure..signifies the blue colour in the coats of arms of all persons under the degree of a baron. 1838 Penny Cycl. XII 143/2. |
4. The clear blue colour of the unclouded sky, or of the sea reflecting it. (Originally, the deep intense blue of more southern latitudes.)
| 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. viii. 81 The colour of Asure lyke unto the heuen whan it is pure and clere. 1656 Cowley Davideis ii. Wks. I. 354 He cuts out a Silk Mantle from the Skies, Where the most sprightly Azure pleas'd the Eyes. 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 408 Celestial azure brightning in her eyes. 1823 Byron Island iii. iii, The vast and sullen swell Of ocean's alpine azure. |
5. a. The unclouded vault of heaven.
| 1667 Milton P.L. i. 297 Not like those steps On Heavens Azure. 1738 Glover Leonidas iii. 14 Mingling its majestic front With heav'ns bright azure. 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 10 Above, the crystal azure, perfect, pale. |
b. fig.| 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. ix, Borne aloft into the azure of Eternity. 1873 Tyndall Addr. Brit. Assoc., When you and I, like streaks of morning cloud, shall have melted into the infinite azure of the past. |
B. adj. 1. Her. Blue.
| a 1450 Syr Eglamore 1030 He bare, Aserre, a grype of golde. ? 1650 Don Bellianis 16 A Knight cloathed in an azure armour. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 181 Sir Lancelot's azure lions, crowned with gold. |
2. a. Coloured like the unclouded sky;
orig. of a deep intense blue,
now usually of a soft clear bright blue, as is the sky of our more northern latitudes; sky-coloured, cerulean.
| c 1505 Dunbar Twa Luves xi, The hevinly aisur skyis licht. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 419 Her azure veins, her alabaster skin. a 1626 Bacon Sylva §5 No Beast hath any fine Azure, or Carnation, or Green Haire. a 1763 Shenstone Odes (1765) 110 The little halcyon's azure plume Was never half so blue. 1813 Scott Trierm. ii. xxvii, Slow the dark-fring'd eyelids fall, Curtaining the azure ball. 1819 Shelley Ros. & Helen 957 It was the azure time of June. |
b. (Used, like L.
cæruleus, as an epithet of sea-and river-deities and things belonging to them.)
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 560 High o'er the Main in wat'ry Pomp he rides His azure Carr. 1725 Pope Odyss. v. 426 An azure sister of the main. |
3. a. fig. Like the unclouded sky; clear, cloudless.
| 1827 Carlyle Misc. I. 36 Is not Klopstock, with..his azure purity..a man of taste? 1841 Brewster Mart. Sc. ii. iv. (1856) 146 Those azure moments when the clouds broke from his mind. |
b. transf. in
Jewellery (see
quot.)
| 1865 H. Emanuel Diam. & Prec. Stones, Sometimes..stones which are set open, or, to use the technical term, ‘azur,’ have the interior of the setting enamelled or painted, to throw a tint of colour into the gem. |
4. Bookbinding. Composed of horizontal parallel lines, as a tooled or stamped design; also applied to the tool used for making such a design (
cf. sense A. 3).
| 1894 Amer. Dict. Printing & Bookmaking 31 Azure tools. 1922 E. J. Kimble Vocational Vocabs. (ed. 2) 24 Bookbinding..azure tools. 1953 Lemaitre & Thompson Vocab. Bibliothec. 198 Azure tooling (decoration with close parallel lines). |
C. Comb., as
azure-bice (
= bice),
azure-blue,
azure-circled;
azure-bright,
azure-coloured,
azure-eyed,
azure-flaming,
azure-lidded,
azure-veined;
azure-spar, lazulite,
azure-stone, the lapis lazuli, or lazulite.
| a 1500 E.E. Misc. (1855) 78 Iff thou wylt preve *asure bice, if hit be good or badde. |
| 1859 W. Coleman Woodlands (1862) 113 The pretty *Azure-blue butterfly (Polyommatus Argiolus). |
| 1930 O. Gogarty Wild Apples 15 And gazed out at *azure-bright pinnacled forms. |
| 1879 Tennyson Lover's T. 29 High over all the *azure-circled earth. |
| 1617 Wardens' Acc. in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 426 *Azure couloured cloathes for the poore men's gownes. |
| 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 539 Minerva *azure-eyed advanced. |
| 1929 E. Blunden Near & Far 19 And *azure-flaming waves around rock-caves. |
| 1820 Keats Eve of St. Agnes xxx, And still she slept an *azure-lidded sleep. |
| 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 417 The *Azure-stone is most commonly in the gold mynes. |
▪ II. ˈazure, v. [f. prec.; cf. F. azurer (Cotgr.).] To paint, dye, or colour azure or bright blue. Hence
azuring vbl. n.| 1490–1587 [see azured ppl. a. 1]. 1656 W. Montagu Accompl. Wom. 118 We azure wainscots, paint images, guild swords. 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. i. ii. i, The silks are..azured with river-water. 1833 Blackw. Mag. XXXIV. 540 She saffrons the hills, and azures the mountains. 1869 Eng. Mech. 2 July 340/2 Aniline colours have been employed..for the azuring of the surface of the paper. |