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Showing results for ruddle. Search instead for ruddles.
Synonyms

ruddle

American  
[ruhd-l] / ˈrʌd l /

noun

  1. a red variety of ocher, used for marking sheep, coloring, etc.


verb (used with object)

ruddled, ruddling
  1. to mark or color with ruddle.

ruddle British  
/ ˈrʌdəl /

noun

  1. a red ochre, used esp to mark sheep

"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

verb

  1. (tr) to mark (sheep) with ruddle

"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 ruddle

1530–40; dial. rud ( see rudd) + -le


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:

They daub their bodies with a red earth, like the ruddle used in England for marking sheep.

From Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836 Volume I. - Proceedings of the First Expedition, 1826-1830 by Robert Fitzroy

Lemnian earth, ruddle, and very many minerals do this, and yet they are fatuously said to attract.

From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by William Gilbert

The distorted gibbous disk lifted itself above the edge—red as ruddle and enlarged by the refraction: a giant coppery moon, weird and magical.

From Greene Ferne Farm by Richard Jefferies

Page 22, line 20. rubrica fabrili: in English ruddle or reddle.

From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by William Gilbert

They revolted in 363-362, but were reduced again, and the Athenians established a monopoly of the ruddle, or red earth, which was one of the most valuable products of the island.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics" by Various

She sat now with bowed back by the empty fireplace, and looked across at Nigel with all the harsh lines of her old ruddled face softening into love and pride.

From Sir Nigel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A faint tartness, the somewhat musty odour of old country houses, ascended from the tiled and ruddled floor that glistened like a mirror.

From Abbe Mouret's Transgression by Émile Zola

His appearance much resembled that of the inhabitants of New South Wales; he had also marks raised upon the skin, and his face was blackened and hair ruddled as is sometimes practised by them.

From A Voyage to Terra Australis — Volume 1 by Matthew Flinders

"I know you're a ruddled old hunks," said Mount, carelessly.

From Cardigan by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

The slatternly bedchamber, with its red turkey twill window-curtains and cheap gaudy wallpaper, which had belonged to the ruddled woman with the bleached hair, was a palace to the little one.

From The Dop Doctor by Richard Dehan

Three hundred pistoles!" he echoed; "for ruddling the blades and risking the lives of nine of the finest swordsmen in Europe?

From The Duke's Motto A Melodrama by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy

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