[f. CRIMSON a.]
1. trans. To make crimson, impart a crimson color to.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., III. i. 206. Heere thy Hunters stand … Crimson’d in thy Lethee.
1743–6. Shenstone, Elegy, xx. 55. Stain’d with blood, and crimson’d o’er with crimes.
1768. Mad. D’Arblay, Early Diary, 20 May. My cheeks are crimsoned with the blush of indignation.
1877. Amelia B. Edwards, Up Nile, iv. 102. A gorgeous sunset was crimsoning the palms and pigeon-towers of Bedreshayn.
2. intr. To become crimson; esp. in blushing.
1805. Southey, Madoc in Azt., xvii. See his cheek! How it hath crimson’d at the unworthy thought!
1822–56. De Quincey, Confess., Wks. V. 89. The ancient collegiate church … beginning to crimson with the deep lustre of a cloudless July morning.
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Mrs. Hallib., I. xv. 79. Jane’s pale face crimsoned at the idea of parting with it.
Hence Crimsoned, Crimsoning ppl. adjs.
1730–46. Thomson, Autumn, 1090. The moon … Shows her broad visage in the crimsoned east.
a. 1853. Robertson, Lect., ii. (1858), 57. A crimsoned cheek.
1861. Mrs. Norton, Lady La G., iv. 378. As the fresh bud a crimsoning beauty shows.
1879. R. H. Horne, Orizaba, in Poems of Places, 147. They mark the crimsoning sunrise tinge The clouds.
