vermilion
or ver·mil·lion
[ver-mil-yuh n]
- 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.
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- of the color vermilion.
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- to color with or as if with vermilion.
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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. 2018
Examples from the Web for vermillion
Contemporary Examples
Araks, Beatrice Bralett, Aaron Panty in Vermillion, $115, $91.
7 Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Gifts Your Valentine Would Actually WantMisty 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 CampaignRobert 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.
Historical Examples
However it was painted all over, and a kind of face had been formed for it with vermillion.
The Country of the NeutralsJames H. Coyne
He has taken up the curb two links, and Vermillion bates that.
The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume EditionRudyard Kipling
Their smooth cheeks and the center of their glossy hair was touched with vermillion.
Among the SiouxR. J. Creswell
Both Vermillion and Vermilion were used and retained in this text.
The Biography of a Prairie GirlEleanor Gates
They consist of copies of inscriptions found by me on the Vermillion.
The Biography of a Prairie GirlEleanor Gates
vermilion
vermillion
- a bright red to reddish-orange colour
- (as adjective)a vermilion car
- mercuric sulphide, esp when used as a bright red pigment; cinnabar
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French vermeillon, from vermeil
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for vermillion
vermilion
n.
late 13c., "cinnabar, red dye," from Anglo-French and Old French vermeillon, from vermeil (see vermeil). As an adjective, from 1580s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper