Also 8 cut-. [A name devised from his own Christian name by Dr. Cuthbert Gordon (who obtained a patent for this powder).]
1. A purple or violet powder, used for dyeing, prepared from various species of lichens, esp. Lecanora tartarea.
1771. Phil. Trans., LXI. 129. Dutch litmus, orchel, cudbear dye silk and wool of a yellow colour.
1794. Statist. Acc. Scot., XII. 113. The cudbear manufacture carried on here was begun in 1777.
1870. J. W. Slater, Manual of Colours, 61. Cudbear is used for dyeing ruby and maroon shades, as well as a variety of browns.
2. The lichen Lecanora tartarea.
1766. Ann. Reg., 117. Gathering Scotch Cutbear.
1861. H. Macmillan, Footnotes fr. Page Nature, 116. The most useful and best known of our native dye-lichens is the rock-moss or cudbear (Lecanora tartarea).