vermilion

or ver·mil·lion

[ver-mil-yuh n]

noun

a brilliant scarlet red.

a bright-red, water-insoluble pigment consisting of mercuric sulfide, once obtained from cinnabar, now usually produced by the reaction of mercury and sulfur.

adjective

of the color vermilion.

verb (used with object)

to color with or as if with vermilion.

Origin of vermilion

1250–1300; Middle English vermilioun, vermillon < Anglo-French, Old French verm(e)illon, equivalent to vermeil vermeil + -on noun suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for vermillion

Contemporary Examples of vermillion

Araks, Beatrice Bralett, Aaron Panty in Vermillion, $115, $91.
7 Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts Your Valentine Would Actually Want
Misty White Sidell
February 13, 2013
And the vermillion wall covering in the library that seemed very 19th-century bordello.
Putting Words in Gore Vidal’s Mouth—a Copywriter Recalls the 1982 Senate Campaign
Robert Chandler
August 6, 2012
In a vermillion fishtail gown and a bright green headdress almost a foot high, she commands the room—Queen for the day.
A Brilliant Film About the Women Who Saved Liberia
Rachel Syme
November 15, 2008

Historical Examples of vermillion

However it was painted all over, and a kind of face had been formed for it with vermillion.
The Country of the Neutrals
James H. Coyne
He has taken up the curb two links, and Vermillion bates that.
The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume Edition
Rudyard Kipling
Their smooth cheeks and the center of their glossy hair was touched with vermillion.
Among the Sioux
R. J. Creswell
Both Vermillion and Vermilion were used and retained in this text.
The Biography of a Prairie Girl
Eleanor Gates
They consist of copies of inscriptions found by me on the Vermillion.
The Biography of a Prairie Girl
Eleanor Gates

British Dictionary definitions for vermillion

vermilion

vermillion

noun

a bright red to reddish-orange colour
(as adjective)a vermilion car

mercuric sulphide, esp when used as a bright red pigment; cinnabar

Word Origin for vermilion

C13: from Old French vermeillon, from vermeil

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

Word Origin and History for vermillion

vermilion

late 13c., "cinnabar, red dye," from Anglo-French and Old French vermeillon, from vermeil (see vermeil). As an adjective, from 1580s.