cudbear

English

Alternative forms

• cudbeard

Etymology

Corrupted from the name of Dr. Cuthbert Gordon, a Scotsman, who patented the process of manufacture.

Noun

cudbear (countable and uncountable, plural cudbears)

1. A violet-red powder, difficult to moisten with water, prepared from certain lichens, especially (syn. Lecanora tartarea), and used for making violet or purple dye.
   • 1878, Andrew Ure, Robert Hunt, Frederick William Rudler; Ure̓'s Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines: Containing a Clear Exposition of Their Principles and Practice, Volume 3

     ORCHELLA WEEDS. The cylindrical and flat species of Roccella used in the manufacture of Orchil or Archil, and Cudbear, are so called by the makers.

2. A rim lichen, crabseye lichen (, syn. Lecanora tartarea), from which the powder is obtained.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “cudbear”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Synonyms

• (lichen): cudweed

References

• “cudbear”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “cudbear”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Lecanora tartarea at MycoBank