azure

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azure

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From Middle English asure, from Old French azur, derived from Arabic لَازَوَرْد (lāzaward, “lapis lazuli”), dropping the l as if it were equivalent to the French article l'. The Arabic is from Classical Persian لاجورد (lājward, “lapis lazuli”), from the region of Lajward in Badakhshan.

Compare with Italian azzurro and Spanish azul.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæʒ.ə/, /ˈæz.jʊə/, /ˈæʒjʊə/, /əˈzjʊə/, (rarely:) /ˈeɪʒ.ə/

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation):

    (file)

  • Homophone: Asia (/ˈeɪʒə/)
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæʒ.ɚ/, /ˈæz.jʊɹ/, /əˈzʊɹ/, /əˈʒʊɹ/, (rarely:) /əˈzjʊɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ), -ɜː(ɹ)

/ˈæʒə(ɹ)/ is the first (sometimes only) pronunciation listed in many dictionaries^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} and is the most commonly used.^[7] Second-most commonly mentioned is /ˈæzjʊə(ɹ)/.^[2][4][5][6] Though missed by most other dictionaries, /əˈz(j)ʊə(ɹ)/ and /əˈʒʊə(ɹ)/ with stress on the second syllable are also common.^[7]

• Other, uncommon^[7] pronunciations are /ˈæʒʊə(ɹ)/^[8] and /ˈæʒjʊə(ɹ)/^[2][6] In older English, /ˈeɪ-/ also occurred and is still recorded in some dictionaries,^[2] but rarely used.

azure (countable and uncountable, plural azures)

1. (countable and uncountable) The clear blue colour of the sky; also, a pigment or dye of this colour.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, Extracts from An Evening Walk:

     In robes of azure.

   • 2014, William H. Gass, On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry, page 59:

     For our blues we have the azures and ceruleans, lapis lazulis, the light and dusty, the powder blues, the deeps: royal, sapphire, navy, and marine […]

   azure:  

2. (heraldry) A blue colour on a coat of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.
   • 1904, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, The Art of Heraldry: An Encyclopaedia of Armory, London : T.C.; & E.C. Jack, page 41:

     Berington of Chester (on the authority of Harleian manuscript No. 1535) is said to bear a plain shield of azure. Personally I doubt this coat of arms  […]

   • 1997, Brault, Early Blazon:

     In Bb [Glover's Roll], the conventional letter B is used to indicate azure in most items.

   • 2010, E. Baumgaertner Wm E. Baumgaertner, Wm E. Baumgaertner, Squires, Knights, Barons, Kings: War and Politics in Fifteenth Century England, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:

     Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy: before 1399: or, a lion rampant azure, differentiated with a label gules (a blue lion rampant on a field of gold, differentiated with a red label signifying the first-born son) […]

   azure (heraldry):  

3. (poetic) The unclouded sky; the blue vault above.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     Not like those steps / On heaven's azure.

   • 1889, Mathilde Blind, “ Reapers.”, in The Ascent of Man, London: Chatto & Windus, , →OCLC, page 140:

     Not a single cloud mars the flawless azure; / Not a shadow moves o'er the moveless crops; [...]

4. Any of various widely distributed lycaenid butterflies of the genus Celastrina.
5. Any of various Australasian lycaenid butterflies of the genus Ogyris.
6. Lapis lazuli.

• (blue color on a coat of arms): az., b., bl.

azure (not comparable)

1. Sky blue; resembling the clear blue colour of the unclouded sky.

   Synonym: cerulean

   • 1740, James Thomson, Rule, Britannia!:

     When Britain first, at Heaven's command / Arose from out the azure main.

2. Cloudless.
3. (heraldry) In blazon, of the colour blue.
   • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:

     ‘I forget your coat of arms.’
     ‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

azure (third-person singular simple present azures, present participle azuring, simple past and past participle azured)

1. (transitive) To colour blue.
   • 1907, The Sugar Beet, volume 28, page 271:

     Our readers are aware that much of the sugar sold in many countries goes through an azuring treatment; blue is added to granulated sugar with the view of making it appear whiter than it actually is.

	metals		main colours				less common colours
tincture	or	argent	gules	azure	sable	vert	purpure	tenné	orange	sanguine
depiction
roundel (in parentheses: semé):	bezant (bezanty)	plate (platy)	torteau (tortelly)	hurt (hurty)	pellet (pellety), ogress	pomme (pommy)	golpe (golpy)	orange (semé of oranges)		guze (semé of guzes)
goutte (noun) / gutty (adjective) thereof:	(goutte / gutty) d'or (of gold)	d'eau (of water)	de sang (of blood)	de larmes (of tears)	de poix (of pitch)	d'huile / d'olive (olive oil)
	special roundel	furs								uncommon tinctures:
tincture	fountain, syke: barry wavy argent–azure	ermine	ermines, counter-ermine	erminois	pean	vair	counter-vair	potent	counter-potent	bleu celeste, brunâtre, carnation, cendrée (iron, steel, acier), copper, murrey
depiction

• 2015 March 26, Jeremy Butterfield, Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 85:

  azure. This 14c. loanword from French has fluctuated in pronunciation in the last two centuries between /ˈaʒ(j)ʊə/, /ˈaʒə/ (OED, 1885, Daniel Jones, 1917, but both cite other pronunciations as well), and /ˈeɪ-/ (given as a variant in OED and Jones). The initial sound is now usually /a-/ as in cat, not /eɪ-/, as in pay. The final sound varies between /-ʒjʊə/ rhyming with pure /pjʊə/ (the dominant pronunciation) and /-ə/.

• 2015 March 30, Greg Brooks, Dictionary of the British English Spelling System, Open Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 190:

  […] azure pronounced /ˈæzjʊə, ˈeɪzjʊə/ (also pronounced /ˈæzjə, ˈeɪzjə, ˈæʒə, ˈeɪʒə/)

• IPA^(key): /a.zyʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: azurent, azures

azure

1. inflection of azurer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

azure

1. Alternative form of asure

azure m (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of azur