I. ˈred adjective
( redder ; reddest )
Etymology: Middle English read, reed, red, from Old English rēad; akin to Old English rēod red, Old High German rōt, Old Norse rauthr & rjōthr, Gothic rauths, Latin ruber & rufus, Greek erythros red, Sanskrit rohita red, reddish, rudhira red, bloody
1.
a. : of the color red
red rose
as red as a ruby
b. : lit by or as if by fire
no matter how scarlet the sunset, those red hills never became vermilion — Willa Cather
2.
a.
(1) : dyed with red
the red hat of a cardinal
(2) : producing a red color
logwood used for red dyes
b. : having red as a distinguishing color
captain of the red team
3.
a.
(1) : flushed especially with anger or embarrassment
plain from his red face that the insult had struck home
turned uncomfortably red when called upon to speak
(2) : ruddy , florid
the large red health that uncivilized women admire — Walter Bagehot
(3) : of a coppery hue
red skin of the American Indian
b. of the eyes
(1) : naturally red
(2) : reddened by inflammation : bloodshot
eyes red from weeping
c. of hair or the coat of an animal : being somewhere in the color range between carrot red and russet or bay
a flaming thatch of red hair
red setter
red roan
d. : tinged with red : reddish
flat sandy country … the red heart of Australia — Myrtle R. White
4.
a. : stained or covered with blood
waving our red weapons o'er our heads — Shakespeare
b. : full of or colored with blood
good red beef
5. : heated to redness : glowing
red slag from a blast furnace
red lava flowing from a volcano
6.
a. : characterized by wrath or violence : choleric , bloody
convulsed with red rage — Hudson Strode
the red rules of tooth and claw — P.B.Sears
b. : of an extreme or profligate nature : flagrant , wanton
the red waste of his youth — Thomas Wolfe
is she really so … red as she is painted — W.J.Locke
7.
[from the flag used by revolutionaries]
a. : inciting or endorsing sweeping social or political reform especially by the use of force : revolutionary , radical — compare white 8
b. often capitalized : communist
fighting red guerrillas in the Malayan forests — J.M.Flagler
c. often capitalized : of or relating to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or its allies or satellites : lying within or emanating from the Soviet orbit
each Red worker must be politically educated … in Marxist-Leninist terms — O.O.Trullinger
building up the German red army — R.E.M.Morris
Kremlin is pouring a torrent of red books and newspapers into India — F.C.Laubach
8.
[so called from the bookkeeping practice of entering debit items in red ink]
: failing to show a profit
haven't had a red month in the past year — R.J.Schrick
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English read, reed, red, from read, reed, red, adjective
1.
a. : a color whose hue resembles that of blood or of the ruby or is that of the long-wave extreme of the visible spectrum
b. : the one of the four psychologically primary hues that is evoked in the normal observer under normal conditions by radiant energy from the long-wave extreme of the visible spectrum combined with a very small amount of radiant energy from the shortwave extreme
c. : one of the six psychologically primary object colors
2.
a. : red clothing or cloth
lady in red
b. : one that uses red as a distinguishing color ; specifically : a member of an athletic team having red insignia
Cincinnati Reds
3.
a. : one that is of a red or reddish color: as
(1) : red wine
killed another bottle of California red — A.R.Foff
(2) : red cent
not another cent to waste, not another … red — P.E.Green
(3) : the red ball in billiards
(4) : an animal with a reddish coat
pressed his pony, a small, nervous red — W.V.T.Clark
b. : an American Indian : redskin
risking himself on a wearied horse in a country alive with reds — S.H.Adams
4.
a. : a pigment or dye that colors red
red can be made from the cochineal insect — Helen Coates
specifically : rouge
plenty of powder, and a little red too — Willa Cather
b. : a shade or tint of red
the reds in the petrified woods of Arizona — Buick Magazine
c. : an incandescent glow
the red of his cigar like a small, fiery flower between his fingers — Josephine Johnson
d. reds plural : insoluble red substances yielded by vegetable tanning materials (as phlobaphenes) and deposited on the surface of the leather
5.
a. : one who advocates or is thought to advocate or endorse the violent overthrow of an existing social or political order : subversive , revolutionary
leftists called themselves liberals, and their opponents called them reds — Upton Sinclair
rank-and-file German Social Democrats, whom they classify as reds — Atlantic
— compare 10 pink 3, red republican
b. usually capitalized : communist
in Kremlin protocol he now takes precedence … over all European satellite Reds — E.P.Snow
Reds reject … all hope of real reforms without a revolution — Jacob Spolansky
c. : communism , radicalism
lesser forms of internationalism … have a distinctly lighter tinge of red — New Freeman
6.
a. : the red circle of an archery target that is next to the gold
b. : a shot that hits such a circle
7.
[so called from the bookkeeping practice of entering debit items in red ink]
: the condition of showing a loss — usually used with the
a moneymaking scheme for getting the organization out of the red
— opposed to black
8. : red alert
III. verb
( redded ; redded ; redding ; reds )
Etymology: Middle English readen, from read, reed, red, adjective
chiefly dialect : redden
IV. abbreviation
1. redactor
2. reduce; reduced; reducer; reducing
3. reduction
V. noun
reds plural also red devils slang : red drug capsules containing the sodium salt of secobarbital