redd
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
to put in order; tidy.
to redd a room for company.
-
to clear.
to redd the way.
noun
verb
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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
Here, on Jan. 9, King George VI, whose own state dining room in Buckingham Palace was still not redded up for peace, would entertain the chief delegates to UNO at a banquet.
From Time Magazine Archive
The eldest offers her a drawing, either redded or whited on the back, and a point or needle for tracing it on the plate; this drawing represents the design he is going about.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 56, No. 346, August, 1844 by Various
They tumbled out and redded up the place in a hurry, folding away the rugs and linen—which Bill, with his grimed fingers, did not dare to touch—and stowing them as he directed.
From True Tilda by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
It is time I redded up my house.'
From The Fifth Queen Crowned by Ford, Ford Madox
They've redded up the best rooms, and kindled fires and a', to be ready gin he comes soon.
From Up in Ardmuirland by Barrett, Michael
As Iran's young Shah came to power 20,000 Russian troops were camped outside Teheran, redding up their tanks for a triumphal entry into the city.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mrs. Truman was redding up her rambling, 80-year-old home at 219 North Delaware St. in Independence.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Are you going to be all day redding up them rooms?" pursued the voice.
From The House of Mystery An Episode in the Career of Rosalie Le Grange, Clairvoyant by Irwin, Will
For brick hearths, use redding, mixed with thin hot starch and milk.
From The American Housewife Containing the Most Valuable and Original Receipts in all the Various Branches of Cookery; and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner by Anonymous
That is what she did, and furthermore she left the room guiltily, muttering something about redding up the drawers.
From Margaret Ogilvy by Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew)
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.
