▪ I. rosy, a.
(ˈrəʊzɪ)
Also 6 rossy, 6–8 rosie, 8 rosey.
[f. rose n. + -y. Cf. MDu. rosich (Du. rozig), MHG. rôsic (G. rosig, rösig).
An OE. rosiᵹ has been inferred from the dat. sing. roseum in Thorpe's Hom. ælfric II. 334. But this appears to be an error for rosenum, which is the reading in two Bodleian MSS.]
A. adj.
1. a. Having the crimson or pink colour of a rose; rose-coloured, rose-red.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1755 Elementes..Holden a bond perpetuely durynge, That Phebus mot his rosy day forth brynge. 1570 Levins Manip. 108/35 Rossy, roseus. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 410 This spirit..blesseth all partes with ioy and iolitie and dies them with a Rosie colour. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 175 For see the Morn..begins Her rosie progress smiling. 1725 Pope Odyss. vii. 239 Alcinous gave the sign, And bade the herald pour the rosy wine. 1784 Cowper Task i. 495 The lark is gay, That dries his feathers..Beneath the rosy cloud. 1823 Clissold Ascent Mt. Blanc 23 The western arc of the misty circle kindled, from a rosy to a deep reddening glow. 1845 Beck's Florist 198 The dark crimson feathered upper petals..contrast prettily with the white centre and rosy under petals. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 309 Wreaths sat on each hoar crown, Whose snows flush'd rosy beneath them. |
b. Said of persons, their features, etc., especially as betokening good health.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 386 Her lily hand her rosy cheek lies under. 1611 ― Cymb. v. v. 121 That sweet Rosie Lad. 1697 Dryden æneid ii. 807 She held my hand,..Then from her rosy lips began to speak. 1736 Gentl. Mag. VI. 454/1 Dear Doctor, answered the Dean; you look well and rosy, your Colour is fresh. 1797–1805 S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. II. 165 The carriage he was often pleased to fill with tired and rosy vintagers. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 276 Whenever he went a sparking among the rosy country girls of the neighbouring farms. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xx, The honest Irish maid-servant..asked leave to kiss the face that had grown all of a sudden so rosy. 1875 H. G. Wood Therap. (1879) 408 It is an every-day occurrence to see pale anaemic patients become, whilst taking it, rosy and plethoric. |
c. Blushing; accompanied with blushes.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. v. 11 She..pray'd me oft forbearance: did it with A pudencie so Rosie [etc.]. 1614 T. Tomkis Albumazar i. i, Thou know'st my rosy modesty cannot do it. 1781 Cowper Anti-Thelyph. 87 She..turn'd her rosy cheek away. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 10 Due return of blushing ‘Good Night’, rosy as a borne-off bride's. |
d. spec. (See
quot.)
| 1847 Halliw. s.v., Hens, when they commence laying, and their combs look red and healthy, are said to be rosy. |
e. slang. Drunk; tipsy.
| 1905 Dialect Notes III. 17 Rosy, adj. Slang. Drunk. 1931 Princeton Alumni Weekly 22 May 798/1 When ‘the lid is off’ one gets ‘rosy’,..and maybe ‘passes out’. 1975 D. Bagley Snow Tiger xii. 104 Sure, there was drinking. Some of the boys..got pretty smashed... I was a bit rosy myself. |
2. Resembling a rose;
esp. sweet-smelling or fragrant as a rose, rose-scented.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (Sommer) 247 b, Did not a rosed breath, from lips more rosie proceeding, say [etc.]. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 83 If thy delicious breath I chaunce to sip, Being the rosie verdure of thy lip. 1616 B. Jonson Epigr. xcvii, His clok with orient veluet quite lin'd through, His rosie tyes and garters so ore-blowne. 1744 Akenside Pleas. Imag. ii. 168 That name indeed Becomes the rosy breath of love. |
| fig. 1820 Keats Lamia i. 82 Whereat the star of Lethe not delay'd His rosy eloquence. |
3. Abounding in, decorated with, roses; composed of roses.
| 1508 Dunbar Goldyn Targe 40 The rosy garth depaynt and redolent..Arayed was, by dame Flora the queene. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 37 A Rosy girlond was the victors meede. 1634 Milton Comus 105 Braid your Locks with rosie Twine. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. vi. 24 His rosie Wreath was dropt not long before. 1743 Francis tr. Hor., Odes i. v. 2 What youth, the rosy bower beneath, Now courts thee to be kind? |
| fig. 1637 Monro Pract. Obs. iv. in Exped. ii. 194 As this life is Rosie, so it hath flowers mixed with thornes. |
4. a. Of times, circumstances, etc.: Bringing happiness; bright, gladsome; promising, hopeful.
| 1775 Sheridan Duenna i. i, Her rosy slumbers shall not fly. 1820 Keats Lamia i. 199 As though in Cupid's college she had spent Sweet days.., And kept his rosy terms. 1874 L. Morris To a Child of Fancy ii, My little dove,..Who through the laughing summer day Spendest the rosy hours in play. 1887 H. Smart Cleverly Won ix, To be purposely knocked over when his chance of winning looked rosy, would be too provoking. |
b. transf. Of temperament: Sanguine.
rare.
| 1878 Stevenson Inland Voy. (1902) 80 My companion, in a rosier temper, listened with great satisfaction to my Jeremiads. |
5. a. In special collocations, as
rosy apple, (
a) used in skipping formulas; (
b) (see
quot. 1959
2);
rosy-bill, a South American pochard,
Netta peposaca, which has a pink bill;
rosy cross, the supposed emblem of the Rosicrucians (also
attrib.);
rosy drop (see
quots. and
rose-drop 2);
rosy finch, a bird of the genus
Leucosticte, native to the northern parts of Asia and
N.W. America;
† rosy gills (see
quot.);
rosy gull, an American species of gull.
Also in various names of moths, as
rosy day,
rosy footman,
rosy minor,
rosy rustic: see J. Rennie
Butterflies & Moths (1832) 72, 86, etc.
| 1916 N. Douglas London Street Games 64 *Rosy apples lemon and a pear A bunch of roses shall she wear. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. xv. 339 The skipping formula usually begins..Rosy apple, lemon tart, Tell me the name of your sweetheart. A, B, C, D, [etc.]. Ibid. xviii. 381 There are more than sixty established names for the pursuit of illegally knocking at doors... Rosy Apple. Derby. 1964 Western Folklore XXIII. 258 Rosy apples, Mama's little tart, Tell the initials Of your sweetheart! |
| 1888 R. Hubbard Ornamental Waterfowl ii. v. 162 The *Rosy-bill is a native of South America. 1956 G. Durrell Drunken Forest i. 16 Rosybills, immaculate in their gleaming black-and-grey plumage, their beaks looking as though they had been freshly dipped in blood. 1976 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) 16 Dec. (Advt.), Sale, pairs black swans, Emperor, Barnacle, Egyptian, Tested, Gadwell, Shelduck, Rosybill, Carolinas, Pintails. |
| 1631 Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. (1640) 90 In this conflict..no new devise of the Knights of the *Rosie-crosse..is able any whit, or at all, to revive, ease, or asswage. 1652 T. Vaughan (title), The Fame and Confession of the Fraternity of R.C. Commonly, of the Rosie Cross. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 651 As for the Rosie-cross Philosophers, Whom you will have to be but Sorcerers. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xviii, Thou hast gulled the whole brotherhood of the Rosy Cross. 1891 [see Rosicrucian A]. |
| 1822 Good Study Med. (1829) II. 359 Carbuncled-face. *Rosy drop. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prevent. & Cure Dis. iii. xiii. 1081 Red swelling on the face of hard drinkers and high livers, known as ‘rosy drop’. |
| 1801 Latham Synop. Birds Suppl. II. 207 *Rosy finch. Fringilla rosea..Inhabits among the willows.. in Sibiria. 1884 Coues N. Amer. Birds 350 Leucosticte,..Rosy Finches. |
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Rosy-gills, sanguine or fresh-colour'd. |
| 1831 Wilson's Amer. Ornith. IV. 353 Larus Franklinii, Franklin's *Rosey Gull. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 316 Wedgetailed, or Ross' Rosy Gull,..white, rosy-tinted. |
b. In collocations used
attrib. (see
quots.).
| 1843 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 49 C. rosacea.—Rosy Feather Star. 1865 Gosse Land & Sea 257 The cones of pellucid rosy lilac, the Rosy Crumb Sponge. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 4 Nov. 9/2 Mandarin, Muscovy, and rosy-bill ducks. |
6. With other
adjs. (or
ns.) expressing colour, as
rosy-blue,
rosy crimson,
rosy-gilt,
rosy-golden,
rosy-mauve,
rosy-red; also
rosy bright,
rosy-pale.
| 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Decay 159 The Lillies of her breasts, the Rosie-red In either cheek. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 619 With a smile that glow'd Celestial rosie red. 1725 Pope Odyss. iii. 505 The racy wine,..By ten long years refin'd, and rosy bright. 1832 Tennyson Œnone 176 From the ground her foot Gleamed rosywhite. 1845 Beck's Florist 179 With large handsome foliage and..flowers of a pleasing rosy-crimson colour. 1862 G. M. Hopkins Vision of Mermaids (1929), Which, lightening o'er the body rosy-pale, Like shiver'd rubies dance. 1882 Garden 22 Apr. 271 The glowing rosy purple hue. 1925 V. Woolf Common Reader 115 The apples rosy-gilt in the afternoon sun. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Sun iii. 11 The child and she were now both tanned with a rosy-golden tan, all over. 1952 A. G. L. Hellyer Sanders' Encycl. Gardening (ed. 22) 94 [Cattleya] Harrisoniana, light rosy-mauve, variable, summer, autumn. 1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) xi. 89 His hungry mouth, rosy-red with fever. 1976 I. Murdoch Henry & Cato i. 3 Leaving New York in daylight, his plane had soon risen into a sort of radiant rosy-blue stratospheric gloom. 1978 New York 3 Apr. 94/3 The terrine de poisson, a rosy-pale slice of fish pâté. |
7. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic, as
rosy-billed,
rosy-bosomed,
rosy-cheeked,
rosy-coloured,
rosy-faced,
rosy-fleeced,
rosy-flowered,
rosy-footed,
rosy-lipped,
rosy-muzzled,
rosy-petalled,
rosy-rayed, etc.; also
rosy-blushing,
rosy-dancing,
rosy-glistening,
rosy-rising,
rosy-torturing,
rosy-warm.
| 1876 Proc. Zool. Soc. 399 The *Rosy-billed Duck has been successfully introduced into Europe. |
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iv. Columns 449 Heav'n's *Rosie-blushing cheeks. |
| 1634 Milton Comus 986 The Graces, and the *rosie-boosom'd Howres. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 1007 The rosy-bosom'd Spring To weeping Fancy pines. |
| 1603 Breton Packet Mad Lett. i. iii, The beautifull lineaments of *rosie cheekt Ladies. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 114 Rosy-cheeked apples, plums with the bloom on them. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 610 Foxhunting squires and their rosycheeked daughters. |
| 1669 H. More Exp. 7 Epist. 78 The Cardinals should go in their *Rosie-coloured Hats and Robes. 1716 Rowe Ode for New Year viii, On the balmy air sits rosy-colour'd health. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xx, All the rosy-coloured ideas..which flutter about the couch of a youth. |
| 1754 Gray Poesy 28 The *rosy-crowned Loves are seen On Cytherea's day. |
| 1796 T. Townsend Poems 31 O'er the *rosy-dancing tide. |
| 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. (1848) 5 In the opinion of the *rosy-faced butler. |
| 1744 Akenside Pleas. Imag. ii. 634 O restore The *rosy-featur'd maid. |
| 1936 R. Campbell Mithraic Emblems 57 The *rosy-fleeced Arrival of the Moon. |
| 1927 V. Woolf To Lighthouse i. vii. 63 A *rosy-flowered fruit tree. |
| 1728 Thomson Spring 488 While the *rosy-footed May Steals blushing on. 1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid's Met. 236 The rosy-footed maidens. 1928 O. Gogarty Wild Apples 8 Fair skin and smooth as the rosy-footed dove's wing! |
| 1809 Malkin Gil Blas viii. i. (Rtldg.) 276, I began to look like a *rosy-gilled son of the church. |
| a 1918 W. Owen Poems (1963) 127 The crunch of boots on blue snow *rosy-glistening. |
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 1198 Therwith al *rosy hewed tho wex she. 1773–83 Hoole Orl. Fur. xxv. 347, I view'd Her sparkling eyes, her features rosy-hu'd. |
| 1862 G. M. Hopkins Vision of Mermaids (1929), The waves were *rosy-lipp'd. |
| 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 63 Violets, Pagan, *rosy-muzzled violets. |
| 1791 Cowper Iliad i. 588 The day-spring's daughter, *rosy palm'd. |
| 1928 Blunden Retreat 44 This retinue Of *rosy-petalled sauntering joys. |
| 1925 ― Eng. Poems 90 Others like opals *rosy-rayed convene. |
| 1916 ― Pastorals 19 Nothing Eastern come to us Save the *rosy-rising sun. |
| 1595 Weever Epigr. iv. xxii. E vj, Their *rosie⁓tainted features cloth'd in tissue. |
| 1598 Drayton Heroical Ep. (1695) 21 A *Rosie-tincted Feature is Heav'ns Gold. 1833 Tennyson Two Voices 60 In tufts of rosy-tinted snow. |
| 1929 Blunden Near & Far 19 No *rosy-torturing desert. |
| 1818 Keats Endym. iv. 313 Let it mantle *rosy-warm With the tinge of love. |
B. ellipt. or as
n. 1. the rosy (
a) wine; (
b) blood; (
c) a good time;
phr. to do the rosy, to have a good time.
slang.| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop vii, Richard Swiveller finished the rosy and applied himself to the composition of another glassful. 1891 Sporting Life 25 Mar. 7/3 Goddard was smothered in the rosy as he went to his chair, and Choynski bled at the mouth. 1892 E. J. Milliken 'Arry Ballads 69/2 A doin' the rorty and rosy as lively as 'Opkins's lot. Ibid. 77 Not my idea of the rosy. |
2. Naut. slang. A ship's rubbish-bin.
| 1937 D. Marlowe Coming, Sir! ii. 46, I struggled with the heavy garbage bins, called ‘rosies’. 1962 Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 97/2 The rosy, the Merchant Navy's gash bucket: a ‘rose by any other name’. 1966 ‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse 86 Put a crust on ther Rosy fer 'im, he has a good appetite. Rosy, a ship's swill bin. |
▪ II. rosy, v. rare.
(
ˈrəʊzɪ)
[f. the adj.] 1. trans. To render rosy; to tinge with rose-colour.
| 1652 Collier in Benlowe Theoph. B iv b, Fond Sense, cry up a rosie Skin, Sacrata rosy'd is within. 1864 A. de Vere Infant Bridal 195 At first a gentle fear Rosied her countenance. 1883 Jefferies Story of my Heart iii, The purple of sunset rosied the sward. |
2. intr. To become rosy or rose-red. Hence
ˈrosying vbl. n.| 1862 Thornbury Life Turner I. 28 The rosying in twilight of the reaches of the Thames. 1881 Argosy XXXII. 223 The sea-pinks rosying in ocean cave. |