kermes
Americannoun
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a red dye formerly prepared from the dried bodies of the females of a scale insect, Kermes ilices, which lives on small, evergreen oaks of the Mediterranean region.
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the oak itself, of the genus Quercus coccifera.
noun
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the dried bodies of female scale insects of the genus Kermes, esp K. ilices of Europe and W Asia, used as a red dyestuff
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a small evergreen Eurasian oak tree, Quercus coccifera , with prickly leaves resembling holly: the host plant of kermes scale insects
Etymology
Origin of kermes
1590–1600; < French kermès < Arabic qirmiz < Persian; replacing earlier chermez < Italian chermes < Arabic as above; see crimson
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Before manufacturers could produce them artificially, reds came from minerals, bugs, plants: madder root, kermes, cochineal, brazil wood, cinnabar.
From Slate • Aug. 12, 2019
Of these the most expensive was kermes, a dye made from the desiccated bodies of insects, which produced a luscious, deep crimson.
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2014
Red cloth in this period was dyed using four main dyestuffs - madder, kermes, cochineal and lichen dyes.
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2014
It takes 10 to 12 lb. of kermes to produce as red a color as one pound of cochineal.
From Time Magazine Archive
Crimson and carmine, both of them ultimately from Old Spanish, are not quite doublets, but both belong to kermes, the cochineal insect, of Arabic origin.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
