redden

American

[red-n] / ˈrɛd n /

verb (used with object)

to make or cause to become red.

verb (used without object)

to become red.
to blush; flush.

redden British

/ ˈrɛdən /

verb

to make or become red
(intr) to flush with embarrassment, anger, etc; blush

"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

Derived Forms

outredden

verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of redden

First recorded in 1605–15; red ¹ + -en ¹

Explanation

When something reddens, its color changes so that it looks red. In autumn, the leaves on some trees redden before they fall to the ground. If the sky reddens at dusk, you might remember the rhyme "red sky at night, sailor's delight." Pale people redden too, when they blush or flush with embarrassment. A child coloring a picture with crayons might redden the sky and shade the trees blue and purple. The Old English root, meaning "become red," is readian.

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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.

So, then, they would dance and sing songs together—"Never, tir'd Sailour," "The Three Cherrie-trees," "Who's seene my Deere with Cheekes so redde?" and many another.

From The Three Mulla-mulgars by De la Mare, Walter

Scryueners write with blacke, redde, purple, gren, blewe, or byce: and suche other.

From Schools, School-Books and Schoolmasters by Hazlitt, W. Carew

Whan the kynge hadde redde the letters, he sayde, that he muste take counsayle, before he made him an answere.

From Shakespeare Jest-Books Reprints of the Early and Very Rare Jest-Books Supposed to Have Been Used by Shakespeare by Hazlitt, William Carew

Theis truly the prophetes did reproue / but it is not redde that they did communicate with the same.

From A Treatise of the Cohabitation Of the Faithful with the Unfaithful A Treatise of the Cohabitation Of the Faithful with the Unfaithful by Peter Martyr; Wherunto is Added A Sermon made of the Confessing of Christ and His Gospel and of the Denying of the same, by Henry Bullinger by Martyr, Peter

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023