Blush

Pronunciation

• IPA: /blʌʃ/
• Rhymes: -ʌʃ

Old English blyscan. Cognate with Old Norse blys ("torch") and Danish blus ("blaze").

Full definition of blush

Noun

1. An act of blushing.
2. (uncountable) A sort of makeup, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks. Confer rouge.
3. A color between pink and cream.

Derived terms

• blush is off the rose
• at first blush

Verb

1. (intransitive) To redden in the face from shame, excitement or embarrassment.
• MiltonTo the nuptial bower
  I led her blushing like the morn.
• 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, Baseball Joe on the School Nine Chapter 1But 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) To become red.
• ShakespeareThe sun of heaven, methought, was loth to set,
  But stayed, and made the western welkin blush.
3. (transitive) To suffuse with a blush; to redden; to make roseate.
• ShakespeareTo blush and beautify the cheek again.
4. (transitive) To express or make known by blushing.
• ShakespeareI'll blush you thanks.
5. (intransitive) To have a warm and delicate colour, like some roses and other flowers.
• T. GrayFull many a flower is born to blush unseen.

Synonyms

• flushing
• reddening

Related terms

• erythrophobia (fear of blushing)

1486 Dame Julia Barnes. The Book of St Albans.

Noun

1. The collective noun for a group of boys.A blush of boys.

Usage notes

This is probably a fanciful expression and is not in common use.

Anagrams

• shlub