Forms: α. 3 vermelyon, 6 -eleon, -eleoun; 4–5 vermilyon, 5 -ylyoun, 5–6 -ylyon(e, 6 -ylion; 4–5 vermilioun, 5– vermilion (6–7 -milian, 7 virmilion). β. 4 vermeillone, 5 -elone, 5–7 -elon, 6 Sc. -eloun; 4–5 vermylone, 4 fer-, 5 vermyloun, 5–6 vermylon; 4–5 vermulon, 4–5 vermilon(e, -iloun; also 6 vermelonde, Sc. wermeling, -myling. γ. 6–9 vermillion, 7 virmillion. [a. AF. and OF. vermeillon, vermillon, vermilo(u)n, etc. (mod.F. vermillon, = Prov. vermeillon, vermillon, vermelho, Cat. bermello, Sp. bermellon, bermillon, vermellon, Pg. vermelhão, It. vermiglione), f. vermeil VERMEIL a. Hence also Du. vermiljoen, Da. and Sw. vermilion.]
A. sb. 1. Cinnabar or red crystalline mercuric sulphide, esp. in later use that obtained artificially, much valued on account of its brilliant scarlet color, and largely used as a pigment or in the manufacture of red sealing-wax; also, any red earth resembling this and similarly used as a pigment.
In early use rendering L. minium and occas. confused with ‘red lead’ (as in quot. 1546 in β): see MINIUM.
α. 1296. Acc. Exch. K. R., 5/20 m. 4. In duabus libris de Vermelyon emptis.
1336–7. Ely Sacr. Rolls (1907), II. 83. In ij libris de vermilioun empt.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 508. Vermylyone, minium.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., Adm. i. in Ashm., Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652), 189. Many Experyments I have had in hond;… Which I wyll tell the rehersyng sone: Begynnyng wyth Vermylion.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), K k j. All the Decade was written with blacke ynke, and these wordes with redde vermylyon.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 384. Cinoper or vermilion which the paynters vse in certeyne coloures.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 291. Metals give Orient and fine Colours … in their Putrefactions or Rusts, as Vermilion, Verde-grease [etc.].
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., II. 119. This will be … as ready to you, as if these Letters were painted out for you in Vermilion.
1758. Reid, trans. Macquer’s Chym., I. 82. Cinabar finely levigated acquires a much brighter red colour, and is known to painters by the name of Vermilion.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., xii. All this while Mary was anxiously looking in his face,… as pale as death; while Gus … was as red as vermilion.
1871. Garrod, Mat. Med. (ed. 3), 103. Dark scarlet shining crystalline masses, forming, when powdered, a beautiful scarlet colour, known by the name of vermilion.
β. 1300–1. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 503. In tribus libr. Gummi, di. li. de vermiloun, iij s.
1356. Pipe Roll 32 Edw. III., m. 33/2 b. In … ij. clench’ hamers, iiij. boltes ferri,… xxxj. lb. de vermeillone.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 63. Of the … strondes of þe Reed See is i-gadered vermylon. Ibid., II. 331. And þere is i-founde scharpe fermyloun [L. minium].
c. 1400. Pety Job, 580, in 26 Pol. Poems, 139. Ynke blak or rede, Made with gumme and vermylone.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. 4717. We may al day oure colour grynde & bete, Tempre our azour and vermyloun.
1480. Robt. Devyll, 21. Robertes clothes were readde as vermulon.
1505–6. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., III. 184. For iij di. pund vermeloun to him, xiiij s.
1546. Langley, trans. Pol. Verg. de Invent., II. xiv. 59 b. Vermilon or redde lead was founde in Ephesus by Gallius an Athenien.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 98. The Parret … about hir necke … hath a Collar or Chaine naturally wrought like to Sinople or Vermelon.
1609. Bible (Douay), Isa. i. 18. If they be red as vermelon, they shal be white as wooll.
γ. 1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. 901. I’le onely now emboss my Book with Brass, Dye ’t with Vermillion, deck ’t with Coperass.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., III. 46. Mingle … Vermillion with Masticke for a red colour.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. xi. 237. Quicke-silver is found in a kinde of stone, which dooth likewise yeelde Vermillion.
1698. T. Froger, Voy., 112. Calices … made of Gold, Vermillion, and silver.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), IV. 8. New cloathing them in vermillion and ultramarine.
1796. Withering, Brit. Pl. (ed. 3), IV. 397. Dust the colour of vermillion.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1278. The vermillion of commerce is often adulterated with red lead, brickdust, dragon’s blood, and realgar.
1865. Watts, Dict. Chem., III. 912. Mercuric Sulphide,… in the latter [crystallised state],… has a fine red colour and constitutes the well-known pigment called cinnabar or vermillion.
b. Used as a cosmetic or for painting the body.
In later use chiefly with reference to the war-paint of the American Indians.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 144. The morrow after a companie of women goe to dresse the bride, to combe her locks, and to paint her checkes with vermillion.
16[?]. Middleton, Old Law, III. i. The old wrinkles are well filled up, but the vermillion is seen too thick.
1635. Swan, Spec. M., vi. (1643), 294. Camillus, when he triumphed in Rome, was painted with this Vermilion.
1788. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), I. 542/2. A thick coat of vermilion commonly distinguishes the [Red Indian’s] cheeks.
1809. A. Henry, Trav., 247. The men were almost entirely naked, and their bodies painted with a red ochre, procured in the mountains, and often called vermilion.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, II. 71. Happy was he who could render himself hideous with vermilion.
1843. Marryat, M. Violet, xxiii. When does a Comanche turn his back on receiving the vermilion from his chief? Never!
2. The color of this pigment; a bright red or scarlet.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4336. Nouthire to toly ne to taunde transmitte we na vebbis, To vermylion ne violett ne variant littis.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, II. xiii. (1554), 51 b. Fenix as Clerkes eke endite Found fyrst the colour of vermilion.
1530. Palsgr., 284/2. Vermylon, reed colour, uermillon.
1587. A. Day, Daphnis & Chloe (1890), 51. A vermillion more perfect, thair rested in the freshe springing rose.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 9. Streames of bloud … With which the armes, that earst so bright did show, Into a pure vermillion now are dyde.
1638. Guillim’s Her. (ed. 3), I. ii. 19. Amongst Colours … this Colour Vermilion, or Red, hath the prime place.
1646. J. Hall, Poems, 52. A Rose can more Vermilion speake, Then any cheeke.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., I. 649. His long Chin prov’d his Wit; his Saint-like Grace A Church Vermilion, and a Moses’s Face.
1708. Ozell, trans. Boileau’s Lutrin, 30. Streight the Vermillion vanish’d from her Face.
1793. Beddoes, Calculus, 230. The blood became of a brighter vermilion.
1822. [Mary A. Kelty], Osmond, I. 274. An eloquent blush deepened the soft vermillion that mingled with the transparent whiteness of her complexion.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, II. xv. 255. The negroes of Nubia—with their bodies painted half white, half vermilion.
1882. Garden, 23 Dec., 548/1. The colour is a vivid vermilion.
† b. A blush. Obs.–1
1787. Minor, III. ix. 183. Miss Charlotte … never beheld me without the vermillions increasing in her cheeks.
† 3. a. (Rendering L. vermiculum.) Wool or yarn of a red or scarlet color. Obs.
1388. Wyclif, Exod. xxxv. 25. Tho thingis, whiche thei hadden spunne, iacynt, purpur, and vermyloun, and bijs. Ibid., Lev. xiv. 4. He schal comaunde to the man which is clensid, that he offre for hymsilf … a tree of cedre, and vermylyoun, and isope.
† b. A fabric dyed with vermilion. Obs.–1
1641. L. Roberts, Treas. Traffick, 33. They buy Cotton wooll, in London,… and perfit it into Fustians, Vermilions, Dymities, and other such Stuffes.
† 4. A red or reddish colored variety of pear.
1699. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (ed. 9), 169. Pears:… Ambrosia, Vermilian, Lunsac.
† 5. (Also vermilion-stone.) A particular gem or precious stone. Cf. VERMEIL sb. 3. Obs.
1703–4. in Ashton, Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne (1882), I. xiv. 181. Several Gold Rings set with Turky and Vermillions.
a. 1728. Woodward, Fossils (1729), I. I. 191. The Common Crystal … appears to be the Basis … of the Opal,… the Jacinth, the Vermilion.
1747. Phil. Trans., XLIV. 504. The Vermilion-Stone is more tawny than the Jacinth.
6. a. Comb., as vermilion-dyed, -like adjs.; † vermilion-writer, a scribe or illuminator using vermilion.
c. 1470. Cath. Angl., 400. A vermylon wrytter, minographus.
1581. G. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 125 b. Those dawbed, pargetted, vermilion died faces.
1647. Hexham, I. Vermillion like, roodtachtigh.
b. attrib. with color, etc. (passing into next); hence in combs., as vermilion-colo(u)red.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 327. The face is painted with a vermillion colour.
1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, I. iii. 56. It was of a vermilian colour like blood.
1675. Traherne, Chr. Ethics, 465. Modesty … is a tincture of humility, visible in a vermilion and deeper die.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v., A vermilion Tincture, couleur vermeille.
1697. Dryden, Virg., Past., X. 40. Great Pan arrived;… His cheeks and temples of vermilion hue.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Vermillion-Tincture, a Natural red Die upon the Face; a Cherry-red.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Kermes, Unless, perhaps, it be so call’d from its beautiful Vermillion Colour.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), III. 381. Of a vermilion hue.
1835. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 414. If vermilion-coloured blood be subjected to the action of carbonic acid.
1856. Henslow, Dict. Bot. Terms, 107. Miniatus (of a vermillion colour).
B. adj. Having the color of vermilion; of a bright red or scarlet color.
1589. Greene, Menaphon (Arb.), 45. Shee … died her cheekes with such a vermillion blush.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., x. 153. The pure vermillion bloud, that issu’d from her vaines.
1639. G. Daniel, Vervic., 442. Let, let, that fatall Day record my Name, In bright vermilion Letters.
1675. Hobbes, Odyssey, 101. For the good ship with the vermilion cheeks The Cyclopses have not.
a. 1722. Prior, Vicar of Bray & Sir T. Moor, ¶ 64. A lusty young Fellow with large white Teeth, and a Vermillion countenance.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., lxvii. VI. 462. The Greek monarch … with his own hand impressed three vermillion crosses on the golden bull.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, xvi. How warm [the room] in its amber lamp-light, and vermilion fire-flush!
1878. H. M. Stanley, Dark Cont., II. vi. 167. The handiwork of their artisans in copper and iron and wood, the vermilion camwood.
Comb. 1818. Keats, Endymion, II. 111. All my clear-eyed fish, Golden, or rainbow-sided, or purplish, Vermilion-tail’d.
† b. Painted with vermilion; rouged. Obs.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., I. 27. These vermillion Nymphs, to let me vnderstand they trauelled with a chearefull stomacke, would oft runne races.
c. With names of colors, as vermilion-crimson, -red, -scarlet, -tawny, etc.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 411. With mercury, a vermilion red; with silver, a carmine red.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 246. Rump and upper coverts vermilion-red.
1882. Garden, 15 July, 57/3. Well formed flowers of a brilliant vermilion-crimson. Ibid., 14 Oct., 347/2. The colour being a vivid vermilion-scarlet.
1887. W. Phillips, Brit. Discomycetes, 85. Peziza asperior.… Scattered, vermilion-tawny, applanate.
