kermes
(ˈkɜːmɪz)
Forms: 6–7 chermez, (8 chermes), 7 kermez, (cremes), 7– kermes. See also alkermes.
[= F. kermès, It. chermes, Sp. carmes, Pg. kermes, ad. Ar. and Pers. qirmiz (whence also carmine, cramoisy, crimson).]
1. The pregnant female of the insect Coccus ilicis, formerly supposed to be a berry; gathered in large quantities from a species of evergreen oak in S. Europe and N. Africa, for use in dyeing, and formerly in medicine; the red dye-stuff consisting of the dried bodies of these insects; = alkermes 1.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey iv. ii. 81 Drugs, as Mechoacan, Kermez, Methium, [etc.]. 1626 Bacon Sylva §738 The Scarlet Powder, which they call Kermez. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece i. iv. 245 To which add Juice of Chermes 1 Pound. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. iv. vi. 551 An insect of great use in medicine, is that..known by the name of the Kermes. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 537 Kermes has not been much used since the art of brightening cochineal with tin was discovered. 1865 Morn. Star 5 Apr., Plants infested by the aphis grub, weevil, kermes, cochineal, or tipula. |
2. The small evergreen species of oak (Quercus coccifera) on which this insect lives. More fully kermes oak.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. i. Eden 600 There grows..the Chermez, which on each side arms, With pointed prickles, all his precious arms. 1718 Ozell tr. Tournefort's Voy. I. 177 The island..is fertile in fine plants, and covered with Lentisks, Kermes, and Cistus's. 1858 Hogg Veg. Kingd. 698 Quercus coccifera..is called the Kermes Oak. |
3. Amorphous trisulphide of antimony, of a brilliant red colour. More fully kermes mineral.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The kermes mineral was a preparation of Glauber..made public in 1720. Ibid., The more the kermes contains of a regulus easily revivified, the more it proves emetic. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 251 Mr. Sage thinks it [Red Antimonial ore] a natural Kermes. 1831 J. Davies Manual Mat. Med. 328 When administered in the dose of a few grains, kermes acts as an emetic. 1857 Semple Diphtheria 10 Kermes mineral. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as kermes-berry, kermes grain, kermes insect (= sense 1); kermes lake (see quot. 1850).
| 1671 Ray Corr. (1848) 46, I did not then suspect it to be anything akin to the Kermes kind. 1673 ― Journ. Low C. 457 As for the grains themselves they are so like the Kermes grains. 1676 Grew Exper. Luctat. Menstr. i. §15 Kermes-berries, commonly, but ignorantly, so called. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 213/2 The Kermes insect, which yields so brilliant and permanent a blood-red dye. 1850 Weale Dict. Terms, Kermes lake, an ancient pigment. |