▪ I. vermeil, vermil, a. and n.
(ˈvɜːmɪl)
Forms: α. 5 vermaile, -mayle, -meyle, 6 vermayll, 7 -meyl; 6 vermeill, 8–9 -meille, 6– vermeil. β. 6 vermell, 7 vermel; 6–7 vermile, 7 -myle; 8–9 vermil.
[a. AF. and OF. vermail, vermeil adj. and n. (11th c., mod.F. vermeil, = Prov. vermelh, vermel):—acc. sing. of L. vermiculus, dim. of vermis worm: see vermicle, and cf. vermilion n. and vermily.]
A. adj. Of a bright scarlet or red colour; vermilion. Chiefly poet.
| α c 1400 Rom. Rose 3645 Ful fayre it [sc. the rose] spradde the god of blesse For suche another as I gesse Aforne ne was ne more vermayle. c 1420 Lydg. Ballad at Reverence Our Lady 45 (Skeat), Benigne braunchelet of the pyne-tree, Vyneyerd vermayle. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 74 Take not colde water in stede of vermayll wine. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 37 The pretty fische..vitht there rede vermeil fynnis. 1596 Spenser Prothal. ii, With store of vermeil Roses, To decke their Bridegromes posies. 1802 Sporting Mag. XII. 359 Nature's vermeil robe and lilied vest. 1807 Wordsw. White Doe ii. 12 This Maid, who wrought..In vermeil colours and in gold An unblest work. 1812 S. Rogers Columbus Poems (1839) 42 Tinging with vermeil light the billows blue. 1898 M. M. Dowie Crook of Bough 165 The vermeil flood mounted in her cheeks, but she met his glance fully. |
| β 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos i, A vermile crosse the Cyprian king still wore. 1637 Milton Lycidas (MS. draft), That sad Floure that strove To write his own Woes on the vermel Graine. 1692 J. Salter Triumphs Jesus 17 A Face with Vermile Paint still over-laid. 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. I. 4 In noon's bright blaze thy vermil vest unfold. 1800 Moore Anacreon lvi, The ripe and vermil wine, Sweet infant of the pregnant vine. |
b. Freq. of the countenance, lips, etc.
| c 1614 Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas i. 626 The dimples of a vermile cheek. 1754 Gray Pleasure fr. Vicissitude 3 With vermeil cheek and whisper soft She [sc. the morn] woo's the tardy spring. 1780 S. J. Pratt Emma Corbett (ed. 4) II. 176 The invisible sigh steals through its vermeil passages. 1820 C. R. Maturin Melmoth (1892) III. xxx. 198 A lip as vermeil as her own. 1864 Musgrave Ten Days in Fr. Parsonage I. i. 29 The vermeil cheeks..faded away into creamy hues. |
| transf. 1759 Mallet Fragment Wks. I. 50 The vivid pulse, the vermil grace,..Youth, beauty, pleasure, all are thine! 1800 Moore Anacreon xiv. note 3 So many vermil, honeyed kisses, Envy can never count our blisses. |
c. With names of colours; esp. vermeil red.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. iii. 22 In her cheekes the vermeill red did shew. 1791 Huddesford Salmag. 121 Thy vermeil red and living green In mimic folds thou shalt display. 1859 Tennyson Enid 364 Like a blossom vermeil-white, That lightly breaks a faded flower-sheath. 1906 C. M. Doughty Dawn in Britain I. 68 Her rud as apple blossoms, vermeil-white, Her locks..Like sunny rays. |
B. n.
1. Vermilion hue or colour.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 45 The snowy substaunce [ante frothy billowes] sprent With vermell, like the boyes bloud therein shed. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. x. xli, So when cleare ivorie vermeil fitly blots, By stains it fairer grows. 1728 Fielding Love in Sev. Masques i. v, It has exagitated my complexion to that exorbitancy of vermeille. c 1750 Shenstone Ruined Abbey 180 The vivid vermeil fled his fady cheek. 1848 Lytton Harold iii. iv, The orb was sinking red and lurid, amidst long cloud-wracks of vermeil and purple. 1892 ‘M. Field’ Sight & Song 1 A cloak Of vermeil and of blue. |
† b. transf. Blood. Obs. rare.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 24 How oft that day did sad Brunchildis see The greene shield dyde in dolorous vermell? 1594 Greene Selimus 670 Ile follow Mars,..And die my shield in dolorous vermeil. 1812 Cary Dante, Parad. xvi. 151 With these [I] saw her so glorious and so just, that ne'er The lily from the lance had hung reverse, Or through division been with vermeil dyed. |
† 2. = vermilion n. 1 a. Obs. rare—1.
| 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. ii. xxxii, A painted face, belied with vermeyl store. |
3. (See quots.)
| 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 250 Oriental Ruby. Its colour is carmine red,..sometimes red and white, or red and blue, and thence called sapphire ruby, or orange red, by some called vermeille or rubicelle. 1884 Imp. Dict., Vermeil, a jeweller's name for a crimson-red garnet inclining slightly to orange. |
4. Gilding. (See quot.) Also attrib.
Directly from mod.F. vermeil; the quotation is part of a description of the French method of gilding.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 613 The vermeil coat. Vermeil is a liquid which gives lustre and fire to the gold, and makes it resemble or moulu. [Hence in later Dicts.] |
b. Silver-gilt; gilt bronze.
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Vermeil (French), silver gilt, or gilt bronze. [Hence in later Dicts.] 1889 Harper's Mag. Aug. 334/2 The iconostase or screen is a high wall of burnished vermeil. 1911 19th Cent. May 841 Golden pheasants sat..on platters of embossed vermeille. |
C. Comb. (chiefly parasynthetic), as vermeil-cheeked, vermeil-dyed, vermeil-rimmed, vermeil-tinctured, vermeil-tinted, vermeil-veined adjs.
| 1634 Milton Comus 752 What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that? 1777 Potter æschylus, Furies 451 Let th' Athenian train{ddd}now advance, Array'd in richest vesture darting round Its vermeil-tinctur'd radiance. 1810 Shelley Hope iv. Orig. Poetry (1898) 25 The vermiel [sic] tinted flowers. 1818 Keats Endymion i. 50 Before the daisies, vermeil rimm'd and white, Hide in deep herbage. 1820 ― St. Agnes xxxviii, Thy beauty's shield, heart-shap'd and vermeil dyed. 1821 L. Hunt Indicator No. 67 (1822) II. 117 The bearded and the vermeil-cheeked. 1905 Holman-Hunt Pre-Raphaelitism i. 4 Cheeks vermeil-veined by the pencilling of nature. |
▪ II. vermeil, vermil, v. Chiefly poet.
(ˈvɜːmɪl)
[f. prec. Cf. the earlier envermeil v.]
trans. To colour or suffuse, to stain over, with or as with vermilion or bright red. Also transf.
| 1596 Danett tr. Comines (1614) 278 The presses painted & vermiled with golde. 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy xiii. lxxxix, Euen till his armes with blood were vermeil'd o're. 1616 J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. xi. 164 Their bewties, all sophisticate to viewe (Vulgarlie vermilld to pretende as trewe). 1785 J. Sterling Cambuscan cclii, Abundant roses vermil o'er the plain. 1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle, etc. 171 'Twas vermilled o'er with sweetest dye That nature's pencil ever spread. |
Hence ˈvermeiled, ˈvermiled ppl. a.
| 1616 J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. ix. 17 Her painted truith, her vermild modestie. |