redd

¹ American  

[red] / rɛd /

Or red

verb (used with object)

Northern and Midland U.S.

redd, redded, redding

1. to put in order; tidy.

   to redd a room for company.

2. to clear.

   to redd the way.

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redd ² American  

[red] / rɛd /

noun

1. the spawning area or nest of trout or salmon.

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redd ¹ British  

/ rɛd /

verb

1. to bring order to; tidy (up)

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noun

1. the act or an instance of redding

redd ² British  

/ rɛd /

noun

1. a hollow in sand or gravel on a river bed, scooped out as a spawning place by salmon, trout, or other fish

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Other Word Forms

• redder noun

Etymology

Origin of redd¹

before 900; apparently conflation of 2 words: Middle English ( Scots ) reden to clear, clean up (a space, land), Old English gerǣdan to put in order (cognate with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German rêden, reiden; akin to ready ); and Middle English ( Scots ) redden to rid, free, clear, Old English hreddan to save, deliver, rescue (cognate with Old Frisian hredda, German retten )

Origin of redd²

First recorded in 1640–50; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

That’s compared with last year’s 56, and redd counts topping 100 in 2019 and 2020.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 24, 2022

In 2015 and then again in 2017, a single, lonely salmon redd, or nest, was spotted in the gravel.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 7, 2019

A lot would still need to happen before that could occur, Warheit said, from continued survival to sexual maturity, to finding a mate, to successfully digging a redd and reproducing.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 19, 2018

Beardslee redd counts rebounded from a dangerous low of 37 before the fishing-rule change to more than 350 by 2007, and have dipped only slightly since then, Brenkman says.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 8, 2014

“There, sir, you are redd up and made decent. Now I’ll leave you: I have been travelling these last three days, and I believe I am tired. Good night.”

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë