maiden's blush
1. Used as a name for a delicate pink colour. Hence, a rose of this colour; also maiden-blush rose.
Cf. maiden blush, s.v. maiden A. 10.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper., Epithal. Sir C. Carew, But for prick-madam, and for gentle-heart, And soft maidens-blush, the bride Makes holy these. 1661 Peacham Compl. Gent. (ed. 3) 156 Of the signification of Colours. Maidens-blush, [signifieth] Envy. 1750 G. Hughes Barbadoes 226 From which Place rise several many-leav'd Flowers, of a Maiden's-blush. 1861 C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret ii. 35 The standard maiden-blush rose. 1882 Garden 19 Aug. 168/2 The Maiden's Blush Rose, once so popular, but now seldom met with. 1928 D. H. Lawrence Let. 14 Nov. (1962) II. 1100 Those maiden-blush roses. |
2. A small geometrid moth, Ephyra punctaria.
| 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 73. |
3. Either of two Australian trees with pinkish wood, Sloanea australis, of the family Elæocarpaceæ, or Euroschinus falcatus, of the family Anacardiaceæ.
| 1884 A. Nilson Timber Trees New South Wales 54 E[chinocarpus] Australis.—Maiden's Blush.—A beautiful tree, sometimes attaining a height of 150 feet. 1965 Austral. Encycl. I. 174/2 It [sc. Euroschinus falcatus] is variously known as pink poplar, ribbonwood, Donnelly's cedar and most generally perhaps as maiden's blush, though this last vernacular is now retained for a very different tree, Sloanea australis. Ibid. III. 364/2 S[loanea] australis (maiden's blush or bush alder) is a small tree with showy flowers, found in the coastal brush forests from Illawarra in southern New South Wales to Queensland. |
4. Austral. (See quots.)
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 45 Maiden's blush, ginger beer and raspberry. 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1177/1 Maiden's blush, ginger beer and raspberry cordial: Australian. 1966 G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. vi. 116 Maiden's blush (a drink, either of port and lemonade or rum and raspberry). |