blush
pronunciation
How to pronounce blush in British English:
UK [blʌʃ]
How to pronounce blush in American English:
US [blʌʃ]
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- Noun:
- a rosy color (especially in the cheeks) taken as a sign of good health
- sudden reddening of the face (as from embarrassment or guilt or shame or modesty)
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- Verb:
- turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame
- become rosy or reddish
Word Origin
- blush
- blush: [OE] Modern English blush is a descendant of Old English blyscan ‘turn red, blush’, which was related to and perhaps derived from Old English blysa ‘firebrand, torch’. Similarities of form and meaning make it tempting to compare blaze, which meant ‘torch’ in Old English and came from a prehistoric Germanic *blasōn, but no connection has ever been established. Middle Dutch blosen ‘glow’ may be an intermediate form.
- blush (v.)
- mid-14c., bluschen, blischen, probably from Old English blyscan "blush, become red, glow" (glossing Latin rutilare), akin to blyse "torch," from Proto-Germanic *blisk- "to shine, burn," which also yielded words in Low German (Dutch blozen "to blush") and Scandinavian (Danish blusse "to blaze; to blush"); ultimately from PIE *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn" (see bleach (v.)). For vowel evolution, see bury. Earliest recorded senses were "to shine brightly; to look, stare." Sense of "turn red in the face" (with shame, modesty, etc.) is from c. 1400. Related: Blushed; blushing.
- blush (n.)
- mid-14c., "a look, a glance" (sense preserved in at first blush), also "a gleam, a gleaming" (late 14c.), from blush (v.). As "a reddening of the face" from 1590s. Meaning "a rosy color" is 1590s.
Example
- 1. But even blush could help you sidestep the markup on anything labeled bridal .
- 2. Near-surface blood vessels add a blush of red .
- 3. For greeks a blush --- for greece a tear .
- 4. For a politician known more for her folksy expressions than her literary prowess , sarah palin has made enough money on her yet unpublished first book to make most writers blush .
- 5. However this research , and drummond 's earlier work , suggests that most people don 't blush nearly as badly as they think they do .