blush

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   An act of blushing

   An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.

   • Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege, Whom thou obeyed’st thirty and six years, And not bewray thy treason with a blush?
   • Their eyes instantly met, and the cheeks of each were overspread with the deepest blush.
2. 2

   A glow

   A glow; a flush of colour, especially pink or red.

   • 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.
   • Each painting consists of a white aluminum disk, sprayed at the edges with a subtle blush of blue, pink or grey.
3. 3

   A feeling or appearance of optimism.

4. ›+ 13 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A cosmetic, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks and lips.

   2. 5

      A color between pink and cream.

      • Makeup colors like ivory and blush dominate spring collections and have even infiltrated Burberry's shoes.
   3. 6

      Ellipsis of blush wine.

   4. 7

      To become red or pink in the face (and sometimes experience an associated feeling of…

      To become red or pink in the face (and sometimes experience an associated feeling of warmth), especially due to shyness, love, shame, excitement, or embarrassment.

      • The love scene made him blush to the roots of his hair / to the tips of his ears.
      • He wasn't used to this much attention, so he blushed as he saw dozens of pairs of eyes watching him.
      • […] they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush:
   5. 8

      To be shy, ashamed, or embarrassed (to do something).

      • While Cato lives, Caesar will blush to see Mankind enslaved, and be ashamed of Empire.
      • He never blushed to rob a slave mother of her children, no matter how young or small.
      • […] in this enlightened age, we have much to blush for in the acts of our ancestors.
   6. 9

      To become red or pink.

      • The sun of heaven, methought, was loth to set, But stayed, and made the western welkin blush,
   7. 10

      To suffuse with a blush

      To suffuse with a blush; to redden; to pinken; to make rosy.

      • [the ghost] with the heart there cools and ne’er returneth To blush and beautify the cheek again.
   8. 11

      To change skin color in the face (to a particular shade).

      • When he saw it, he blushed a beet red.
      • I wasn't surprised, but it was embarrassing enough that I blushed a little pink.
      • A few lost leaves blushed crimson with their shame, And drowned themselves despairing in the brook,
   9. 12

      To express or make known by blushing.

      • Looking at me with a knowing glare, she blushed her discomfort with the situation.
      • I’ll blush you thanks.
      • The windows smiled, the door coaxed and beckoned, the creeper blushed confederacy.
   10. 13

       To have a warm and delicate colour, like some roses and other flowers.

       • The garden was full of blossoms that blushed in myriad shades to form a beautiful carpet of color.
       • Full many a Flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its Sweetness on the desart Air.
       • […] lanes which last night blushed full of flowers, to-day were pathless with untrodden snow;
   11. 14

       To glance with the eye, cast a glance.

   12. 15

       Of dope or varnish

       Of dope or varnish: to develop an undesirable white precipitate on the surface, due to being applied in humid conditions.

       • Blushing is caused by doping under high relative humidity conditions.
       • Why is retarder used in dope when the dope is being sprayed in humid conditions? The retarder slows the drying of the dope and keeps it from blushing.
   13. 16

       The collective noun for a group of boys.

       • a blush of boys
       • I took the Red Cross senior lifesaving test, the one girl in a blush of boys taking the course.
       • He had come with his own blush of boys. All afternoon they had shimmered upon the lawns.

The neighborhood

• synonymflush
• synonympinken
• synonymredden
• neighborerythrophobia