red

Adjective

red (comparative redder or more red, superlative reddest or most red)

1. Of a red hue.

   The girl wore a red skirt.

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     Your colour, I warrant you, is as red as any rose.

   • 1954 July 29, J.R.R. Tolkien, “I: A Long-Expected Party”, in The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings; 1), →ISBN:

     The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.

2. (of hair) Having an orange-brown or orange-blond colour; ginger.

   Her hair had red highlights.

3. (of the skin) Having a redder hue than usual due to embarrassment, anger, sunburn, etc.; flushed.
   • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 23:

     [T]he sun was shining on a happy crowd. It shone on white hats and red faces. It shone on ice lollies and melted them.

4. (of a dog or its coat) Having a brown color.
5. (card games, of a card) Of the hearts or diamonds suits. Compare black (“of the spades or clubs suits”)

   I got two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.

6. (politics, often capitalized) Supportive of, related to, or dominated by a political party or movement represented by the color red:
   1. Left-wing parties and movements, chiefly socialist or communist, including the U.K. Labour party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
      • "Only Nixon could go to China" was the refrain of conventional wisdom during Richard Nixon’s 1972 official visit to Mao Tse-tung’s regime. Nixon’s anti-communist credentials, however dubious, provided useful camouflage as he opened diplomatic relations with Red China and made breathtaking concessions that an undisguised liberal couldn’t get away with.

      the red-black grand coalition in Germany

   2. (US politics) The U.S. Republican Party. [21st c.]

      a red state

      a red Congress

7. (chiefly derogatory, offensive) Amerind; relating to Amerindians or First Nations
   • 1994, Soundgarden, Spoonman:

     All my friends are Indians / All my friends are brown and red

8. (astronomy) Of the lower-frequency region of the (typically visible) part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.
9. (particle physics) Of a red color charge.

Noun

red (countable and uncountable, plural reds)

1. (countable and uncountable) The colour of the setting sun, blood, and strawberries; the colour which is evoked by the longest visible wavelengths (between about 625–740 nm), and a primary additive colour.

   red:  

   Red can be seen as hot or angry.

3. (countable) A revolutionary socialist or (most commonly) a Communist; (usually capitalized) a Bolshevik, a supporter of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.

   Coordinate term: pinko

4. (countable, snooker) One of the 15 red balls used in snooker, distinguished from the colours.
5. (countable and uncountable) Red wine.
   • 1977 September, Billy Joel, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, in The Stranger:

     A bottle of red, a bottle of white / It all depends upon your appetite / I'll meet you any time you want / in our Italian restaurant.

   • 2005, Jeffrey P. Landry, Temptation Mango:

     He produced a wine key from his jacket pocket and effortlessly removed the cork from the bottle of red.

   • 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:

     59 sneak in some red Smuggle a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a corkscrew into a long matinee. Red wine is rich in life-extending antioxidants, and the caper will add zest even to a bad movie.

6. (countable) Any of several varieties of ale which are brewed with red or kilned malt, giving the beer a red colour.

   Hyponyms: Flanders red, Irish red

   • 2012 June 5, Howard Stelzer, Beer Cocktails: 50 Superbly Crafted Cocktails that Liven Up Your Lagers and Ales, Harvard Common Press, →ISBN:

     American reds and doppelbocks are heavy lagers as well. It really comes down to how the beer was made. Beyond that, brewers are immensely creative and have developed styles of both ale and lager that run a wide range of attributes.

   • 2016 April 1, Lonely Planet, Helena Smith, Andy Symington, Donna Wheeler, Lonely Planet Belgium & Luxembourg, Lonely Planet, →ISBN:

     No other country has a brewing tradition as richly diverse as that of Belgium, with beers ranging from pleasant pale lagers to wild, winelike Flemish reds and lambics.

7. (countable, informal, Australia) A red kangaroo.
8. (countable, informal, UK, birdwatching) A redshank.
9. (derogatory, offensive) An American Indian.

   Synonym: redskin

10. (slang) The drug secobarbital; a capsule of this drug.

    Synonyms: redbird, red devil

    • 1970, “Truckin'”, in American Beauty, performed by Grateful Dead:

      What in the world ever became of sweet Jane? / She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same / Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine

    • 1971, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Harper Perennial, published 2005, page 202:

      The big market, these days, is in Downers. Reds and smack—Seconal and heroin—and a hellbroth of bad domestic grass sprayed with everything from arsenic to horse tranquillizers.

    • 1998, Jeffery Deaver, The Coffin Dancer, New York, NY: Pocket Books, published 2021, →ISBN, page 285:

      “Whatchu got, man?” / “Reds, bennies, dexies, yellow jackets, demmies.” / “Yeah, demmies're good shit, man. I pay you. Fuck. I got money. I'm hurting inside. Got beat up. Where my money?”

11. (informal) A red light (a traffic signal)
    • 1974, Tom Waits, “(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night”, in The Heart of Saturday Night‎:

      Stopping on the red, you're going on the green / Cause tonight will be like nothing you've ever seen / And you're barreling down the boulevard / You're looking for the heart of Saturday night

12. (Ireland, UK, beverages, informal) Red lemonade
13. (particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.
14. (US, colloquial, uncountable) Chili con carne (usually in the phrase "bowl of red").
    • 1982, The Rotarian, volume 140, number 1, page 39:

      Houston visited a home in an early pioneer settlement where he was offered a bowl of red. Houston eagerly took his first large spoonful. His eyes watering, he spat out his bite […]

15. (informal) The redfish or red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, a fish with reddish fins and scales.
    • 2013 November, Catch Cormier, “Sightcasting for redfish”, in Louisiana Sportsman‎:

      The species Sciaenops ocellatus certainly isn’t lacking for nicknames. […] Clear water also favors sightcasting. Against the dark background of marsh mud, a red will appear like a pumpkin — big, orange and round.

16. (slang, uncountable) Tomato ketchup.
    • 2016, Jon Bounds, Danny Smith, Pier Review: A Road Trip in Search of the Great British Seaside:

      I squeeze some red out over my chips and feel guilty. Nothing is as English as Heinz ketchup in the sauce game, except perhaps HP.

See also

• primary colour

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “red”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “red”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “red”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Verb

red

1. (archaic) simple past and past participle of rede

Verb

red (third-person singular simple present reds, present participle redding, simple past and past participle redded)

1. Alternative spelling of redd

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “redd”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “red”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Alternative forms

• ræd, rede, reed

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɛːd/, /reːd/

Noun

red (plural redes)

1. counsel, advice, recommendation
2. persuasion, convincing
3. agreement, permission, allowance
4. decree, edict
5. decision, will, purpose
6. judgement, judicial decision, opinion
7. plan, strategy, programme, plot
8. event, happening, occurrence
9. benefit, boon, help
10. deliberation, discussion
11. wisdom

Alternative forms

• red, reed, reede, reod, reede, rode, rued

Pronunciation

• (Early Middle English) IPA^(key): /røːd/
• IPA^(key): /reːd/

Noun

red (plural redes)

1. reed, flax (plant)
2. The stalk of a reed
3. straw, thatching
4. reed pen

Alternative forms

• redde, reed, read, ræd

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɛːd/, /reːd/

Adjective

red (comparative redder, superlative reddest)

1. red, crimson, scarlet (in color)
2. red pigment
3. reddened, dyed red
4. blushing, red-faced
5. bloody, blood-stained
6. ruddy, rosy
7. red-haired
8. red-clothed, wearing red
9. (metal) golden
10. (alchemy) causing transmutation into gold

Noun

red

1. red (colour)
2. red pigment, vermillion, cinnabar
3. (heraldry) red, gules (tincture)
4. reddish or ruddy skin
5. reddish eyes or irises
6. red fabric
7. red wine
8. blood

Declension

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /réːt/

Noun

rẹ̑d m inan

1. order (arrangement, disposition)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /réːt/

Noun

rẹ̑d f

1. swath (the track cut out by a scythe in mowing)

Derived terms

Related terms

Declension

Derived terms

• redik