blush

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

blushing

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blʌʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌʃ
• Hyphenation: blush

Etymology 1

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”). 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”).

Noun

blush (countable and uncountable, plural blushes)

1. An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, modesty, etc.
   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,
     Whom thou obeyed’st thirty and six years,
     And not bewray thy treason with a blush?

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A Millar, , →OCLC, book 7:

     […] 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.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Pride and Prejudice: , volume III, London: for T Egerton, , →OCLC:

     Their eyes instantly met, and the cheeks of each were overspread with the deepest blush.

   • 1925, Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway‎, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC:

     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 […]

2. A glow; a flush of colour, especially pink or red.
   • 1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. , volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, , →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1968 August 10, “Light on Light”, in Time:

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

3. (figuratively) Feeling or appearance of optimism.
   • 1974, “April's Fading Carnation,” Time, 9 September, 1974,^{Superscript text}

     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).

4. (uncountable, countable) A sort of makeup, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks.

   Synonyms: blusher, rouge

   • 2016, Sana Passricha, “Keep or Toss: The Shelflife of Your Beauty Treasures,” iDIVA, 22 July, 2016,

     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.

5. A color between pink and cream.

   blush:  

   • 2006 January 9, Kate Betts, “What to Watch For in 2006”, in Time:

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

6. (chiefly US) A pale pink wine made by removing the dark grape skins at the required point during fermentation.

   Synonyms: blush wine, rosé

   • 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.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

blush (third-person singular simple present blushes, present participle blushing, simple past and past participle blushed)

1. (intransitive) To become red in the face (and sometimes experience an associated feeling of warmth), especially due to shyness, 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.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Jeremiah 6:15:

     […] they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush:

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 1147-1148:

     text-To the Nuptial Bowre
     I led her blushing like the Morn:

   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: , volume IV, London: S Richardson;  , →OCLC, page 233:

     I wonder whether they [women] ever blush at those things by themselves, at which they have so charming a knack of blushing in company.—If not; and if blushing be a sign of grace or modesty, have not the sex as great a command over their blushes, as they are said to have over their tears?

   • 1880, Henry James, chapter 14, in Washington Square‎, Harper & Brothers, →OCLC:

     Mrs. Montgomery brushed away her tears, and blushed at having shed them.

   • 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, chapter 1, in Baseball Joe on the School Nine:

     But Tommy was bashful, and the attention he had thus drawn upon himself made him blush. He was a timid lad and he shrank away now, evidently fearing Shell.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To be ashamed or embarrassed (to do something).
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene iv, page 53:

     While Cato lives, Caesar will blush to see
     Mankind enslaved, and be ashamed of Empire.

   • 1849, Henry Bibb, chapter 6, in Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave‎, New York: for the author, page 50:

     He never blushed to rob a slave mother of her children, no matter how young or small.

   • 1908, Jack London, chapter 17, in The Iron Heel‎, New York: The Macmillan Company:

     […] in this enlightened age, we have much to blush for in the acts of our ancestors.

3. (intransitive) To become red.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

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

4. (transitive) To suffuse with a blush; to redden; to make rosy.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies.  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

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

5. (copulative) 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.

   • 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Poet’s Tale: The Birds or Killingworth”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn‎, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, page 202:

     A few lost leaves blushed crimson with their shame,
     And drowned themselves despairing in the brook,

   • 1969, Margaret Atwood, chapter 8, in The Edible Woman, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, published 2010:

     […] she […] blushed a warm and genuine-looking pink.

6. (transitive) To express or make known by blushing.

   Looking at me with a knowing glare, she blushed her discomfort with the situation.

   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 4:

     I’ll blush you thanks.

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXV, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented , volume II, London: James R Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., , →OCLC, phase the fourth (The Consequence), page 47:

     The windows smiled, the door coaxed and beckoned, the creeper blushed confederacy.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, chapter 5, in Livia‎, London: Faber & Faber, published 1981, page 134:

     “I can see you you yawning and stretching, Felix—not very polite.” Felix sprang to attention, metaphorically speaking, and blushed his apologies.

7. (intransitive) 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.

   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard‎, London: R. Dodsley, page 8:

     Full many a Flower is born to blush unseen,
     And waste its Sweetness on the desart Air.

   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. , volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., , →OCLC, page 302:

     […] lanes which last night blushed full of flowers, to-day were pathless with untrodden snow;

   • 1899, Alice Dunbar Nelson, “The Fisherman of Pass Christian”, in The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories‎:

     Natalie^’s pink bonnet blushed in the early sunshine […]

8. (intransitive, obsolete) To glance with the eye, cast a glance.
9. (aviation, intransitive) Of dope or varnish: to develop an undesirable white precipitate on the surface, due to being applied in humid conditions.
   • 1966, Aviation Structural Mechanic S 3 & 2, United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel, page 219:

     Blushing is caused by doping under high relative humidity conditions.

   • 1999, Dale Crane, Fast-Track Test Guides for Aviation Maintenance: Airframe, page 147:

     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.

Synonyms

• flush
• pinken
• redden

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• erythrophobia (fear of blushing)

Etymology 2

Unknown; attested in the late 15th century.

Noun

blush (plural blushes)

1. The collective noun for a group of boys.

   A blush of boys.

   • 1962, Bette Davis, chapter 3, in The Lonely Life: An Autobiography,‎, New York: Putnam, page 46:

     I took the Red Cross senior lifesaving test, the one girl in a blush of boys taking the course.

   • 2001, Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys‎, London: Simon & Schuster UK, published 2002, page 322:

     He had come with his own blush of boys. All afternoon they had shimmered upon the lawns.

Usage notes

This is probably a fanciful expression and has never been in common use.

References

Anagrams

• buhls, shlub

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English blush.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blœʃ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (Belgium)

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Noun

blush m (plural blushs)

1. blush (makeup used to redden the cheeks)
   • 1999, Anna Gavalda, “The Opel Touch”, in Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part:

     C’est mon petit boulot, ma tune, mes clopes, mes expressos, mes virées nocturnes, ma lingerie fine, mon Guerlain, mes folies de blush, mes livres de poche, mon cinoche.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English blush.

Pronunciation

Noun

blush m (uncountable)

1. blush (makeup used to redden the cheeks)