blush

plural blushes

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

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

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

   3 more examples

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

   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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]

   […] 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.

   1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII

   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 […]

   1925 May 14, Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at The Hogarth Press, →OCLC

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

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

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

   1 more example

   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.

   1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: color

3. countablefigurativelyuncountableA feeling or appearance of optimism.

   2 more examples

   1974, “April's Fading Carnation,” Time, 9 September, 1974,https://web.archive.org/web/20130813201436/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904100,00.html 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. countableuncountablecosmeticsA cosmetic, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks and lips.

   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.

   2016, Sana Passricha, “Keep or Toss: The Shelflife of Your Beauty Treasures,” iDIVA, 22 July, 2016,_(http://www.idiva.com/news-style-beauty/keep-or-toss-the-shelf-life-of-your-beauty-treasures/16072264)

   Synonyms: blusher, rouge

5. countableuncountableA color between pink and cream.

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

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

6. USabbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of blush wine.

   1 more example

   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.

present singular third person blushes · participle present blushing · participle past blushed · past blushed

1. intransitiveTo 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.

   5 more examples

   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:

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

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

   1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1147-1148

   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?

   1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 233

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

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

   Synonyms: color, flush, crimson

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

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

   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

   2 more examples

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

   1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 53

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

   1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 17, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC

3. intransitiveTo become red or pink.

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

   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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]

4. transitiveTo 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.

   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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

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

   When he saw it, he blushed a beet red.

   3 more examples

   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,

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

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

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

6. transitiveTo express or make known by blushing.

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

   3 more examples

   I’ll blush you thanks.

   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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act WINTER'S TALE, scene iv], page 4

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

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

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

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

7. intransitiveTo 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.

   3 more examples

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. intransitiveobsoleteTo glance with the eye, cast a glance.
9. intransitiveaeronauticsOf 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.

   1966, Aviation Structural Mechanic S 3 & 2, United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel, page 219

   1 more example

   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.

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

plural blushes

1. The collective noun for a group of boys.

   a blush of boys

   2 more examples

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

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

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

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