blush
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /blʌʃ/
rhymes: -ʌʃ
Forms: form: blushes
Etymology: From Middle English blusshen, bluschen, blusschen, blisshen, from Old English blysċan (“to be red; shine”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *blaskijaną, from *blasǭ (“burning candle; torch”) or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *bluskijaną, from *blusjǭ (“torch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-.
Cognate with Middle Low German blöschen (“to blush”). Compare also Old English blysian (“to burn; blaze”), Dutch blozen (“to blush”), Danish blusse (“to blush”), Old Norse blys (“torch”), Danish blus (“blaze”).
Senses: examples: text: Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,
Whom thou obeyed’st thirty and six years,
And not bewray thy treason with a blush?
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
text: […] when he perceived her industriously avoiding any explanation, he was contented to remain in ignorance, the rather as he was not without suspicion that there were some circumstances which must have raised her blushes, had she related the whole truth.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII:
text: Their eyes instantly met, and the cheeks of each were overspread with the deepest blush.
ref: 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
text: It was a sudden revelation, a tinge like a blush which one tried to check and then, as it spread, one yielded to its expansion […]
ref: 1925 May 14, Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at The Hogarth Press, →OCLC:
glosses: An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.
examples: text: And now the rosy blush of morn began to mantle in the east, and soon the rising sun, emerging from amidst golden and purple clouds, shed his blithesome rays on the tin weathercocks of Communipaw.
ref: 1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, […], →OCLC:
text: Each painting consists of a white aluminum disk, sprayed at the edges with a subtle blush of blue, pink or grey.
ref: 1968 August 10, “Light on Light”, in Time:
glosses: A glow; a flush of colour, especially pink or red.
examples: 1974, “April's Fading Carnation,” Time, 9 September, 1974,https://web.archive.org/web/20130813201436/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904100,00.html
The independence ceremony could not keep the blush of April's revolution, when carnations had seemed to sprout from every buttonhole, from fading.
2016, David McKay, “AngloGold to fire up dividend in 2017 as net debt cut a third,” miningmx.com, 15 August, 2016,
The weakening of local currencies – in Argentina, Australia and Brazil – gave a blush to the financial numbers. (As a whole, all-in sustaining costs (AISC) improved to an average of $911/oz compared with the $924/oz recorded in the first half of 2015).
glosses: A feeling or appearance of optimism.
examples: text: The same rules that apply to face powder apply to powder blush, since neither contains water. Cream blush, however, should be replaced after a year. To prolong the life of any blush, clean your blush brush regularly and store the product in a dry place.
ref: 2016, Sana Passricha, “Keep or Toss: The Shelflife of Your Beauty Treasures,” iDIVA, 22 July, 2016,_(http://www.idiva.com/news-style-beauty/keep-or-toss-the-shelf-life-of-your-beauty-treasures/16072264)
synonyms: blusher
rouge
glosses: A sort of makeup, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks.
examples: text: Makeup colors like ivory and blush dominate spring collections and have even infiltrated Burberry's shoes.
ref: 2006 January 9, Kate Betts, “What to Watch For in 2006”, in Time:
glosses: A color between pink and cream.
examples: 2016, Mishkah Abrahams, “Blush or Rosé? The Cape's Best Summer Drink,” capetownetc.com, 29 September, 2016,
If you’re looking to indulge in some good food while you sip your blush, pair the Chardonnay-Pinot Noir with fresh, summer foods such as sushi, refreshing salads, delicious seafood and fruity summertime desserts.
synonyms: blush wine
rosé
glosses: A pale pink wine made by removing the dark grape skins at the required point during fermentation.
Derived terms: at first blush
blushful
blush is off the rose
blush is off the peach
blushless
blushlike
blush macaranga
blushwood
blushwort
blushy
maiden's blush
put to the blush
spare someone's blushes
sunblush