blush

English

Pronunciation

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• IPA: /blʌʃ/
• Rhymes: -ʌʃ

Etymology 1

Old English blyscan. Cognate with Old Norse blys (“torch”) and Danish blus (“blaze”).

Noun

blush (plural blushes)

1. An act of blushing.
2. (uncountable) A sort of makeup, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks. Confer rouge.
3. A color between pink and cream.

   blush colour:

Derived terms

• blush is off the rose

Translations

an act of blushing

• Bulgarian: изчервяване (bg) (izčervjavane) n
• Czech: červenání se (cs)
• Esperanto: roziĝo (eo), ruĝiĝo (eo)
• Finnish: punastuminen (fi)
• French: rougeur (fr) f

• German: Schamröte (de) f
• Japanese: 赤面 (ja) (せきめん, sekimen)
• Russian: покраснение (ru) (pokrasnénije) n, румянец (ru) (rumjánec) m, (when ashamed) краска стыда (ru) (kráska stydá) f
• Spanish: bochorno (es) m
• Swedish: rodnande (sv)

makeup

• Bulgarian: руж (bg) (ruž) m
• Catalan: coloret (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 胭脂 (cmn) (yānzhī)

• Danish: rouge (da) c
• Finnish: poskipuna (fi)
• French: fard (fr) m, fard à joues (fr) m, blush (fr) m
• German: Rouge (de) n
• Hungarian: rúzs (hu)
• Icelandic: kinnalitur (is) m

• Italian: fard (it) m
• Japanese: 頬紅 (ja) (ほおべに, hōbeni)
• Russian: румяна (ru) (rumjána) n pl
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: руменило (sh) n, зарудак (sh) m, црвенило (sh) n

  Roman: rumenilo (sh) n, zarudak (sh) m, crvenilo (sh) n

• Spanish: colorete (es) m
• Swedish: rouge (sv)
• Turkish: allık (tr)

color

• Japanese: 淡紅色 (ja) (たんこうしょく, tankōshoku)

Verb

blush (third-person singular simple present blushes, present participle blushing, simple past and past participle blushed)

1. (intransitive) To redden in the face from shame, excitement or embarrassment.
   • 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, Baseball Joe on the School Nine Chapter 1

     But Tommy was bashful, and the attention he had thus drawn upon himself made him blush. He was a timid lad and he shrank away now, evidently fearing Shell.

2. (transitive) To suffuse with a blush; to redden; to make roseate.
   • Shakespeare

     To blush and beautify the cheek again.

3. (transitive) To express or make known by blushing.
   • Shakespeare

     I'll blush you thanks.

Synonyns

• flushing
• reddening

Translations

to redden in the face from shame, excitement or embarrassment

• Afrikaans: bloos
• Bulgarian: изчервявам се (bg) (izčervjavam se)
• Catalan: posar-se vermell (ca), tornar-se vermell (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臉紅 (cmn), 脸红 (cmn) (liǎnhóng)

• Czech: červenat se (cs)
• Dutch: blozen (nl)
• Esperanto: roziĝi (eo), ruĝiĝi (eo)
• Finnish: punastua (fi)
• French: rougir (fr), s'empourprer (fr), cramoisir (fr)
• German: erröten (de)
• Greenlandic: aappillerpoq (kl)

• Hebrew: הסמיק (he) (hismík)
• Hungarian: elpirul (hu)
• Italian: arrossire (it)
• Japanese: 赤面する (ja) (せきめんする, sekimen suru)
• Latin: rubeō (la), subrubeō (la)
• Latvian: piesarkt (lv)
• Maori: pāhanahana (mi)
• Norwegian: rødme (no)
• Portuguese: corar (pt), ruborizar (pt), enrubescer (pt)
• Russian: краснеть (ru) (krasnétʹ) impf., покраснеть (ru) (pokrasnétʹ) pf.
• Serbo-Croatian: pocrveniti (sh), zacrveniti (sh)
• Spanish: ruborizarse, enrojecerse, sonrojarse, abochornarse (es)
• Swedish: rodna (sv)

Etymology 2

1486 Dame Julia Barnes. The Book of St Albans.

Noun

blush (plural blushes)

1. The collective noun for a group of boys.

   A blush of boys.

Usage notes

This is probably a fanciful expression and is not in common use.

References

• Noun sense: 1986 Oxford Reference Dictionary: Appendix

Anagrams

• shlub