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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.


redd 2 American  
[red] / rɛd /

noun

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


redd 1 British  
/ rɛd /

verb

  1. to bring order to; tidy (up)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. the act or an instance of redding

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

When dinner was over, and everything "redded up," Hildegarde sent Dame Hartley upstairs to take a nap, and escorted the farmer as far as the barn on his way to the turnip-field.

From Queen Hildegarde by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

You'll find all the rooms redded up—I mean—" "Yes, yes," laughed Leighton, "I know what you mean all right.

From Through stained glass by George Agnew Chamberlain

It is time I redded up my house.'

From The Fifth Queen Crowned by Ford Madox Ford

They've redded up the best rooms, and kindled fires and a', to be ready gin he comes soon.

From Up in Ardmuirland by Michael Barrett

Mrs. Truman was redding up her rambling, 80-year-old home at 219 North Delaware St. in Independence.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

"What! not remember moonlight, and Muschat's Cairn, and Rob and Rat?" said he, with the same sneer;—"Your memory needs redding up, my jo."

From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1 by Sir Walter Scott

He had been ushered out by the Boarder, who was still actively engaged in "redding up."

From Amarilly of Clothes-line Alley by Belle Kanaris Maniates

I wrought that morning out an' out, As I 'd been redding fire, O!

From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century by Charles Rogers

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