madder

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A southwest Asian perennial plant (Rubia tinctorum) having small yellow flowers, whorled leaves, and a red root.
2. n. The root of this plant, formerly an important source of the dye alizarin.
3. n. A red dye obtained from the roots of this plant.
4. n. A medium to strong red or reddish orange.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A plant of the genus Rubia, natural order Rubiaceæ, yielding a valuable dyestuff of the same name. The ordinary dyers' madder is R. tinctorum, native of the Mediterranean region, a climbing, herbaceous, or at the base somewhat shrubby plant, with whorls of dark-green leaves and panicles of small yellowish 4—5-merous flowers, and with long succulent perennial roots. It was formerly esteemed as an emmenagogue and diuretic. R. cordifolia, of India, eastern Asia, and parts of Africa, affords garancin, and is used for the same purposes as European madder; it forms the madder of India, the Bengal madder or munjeet. R. peregrina is the proper wild madder of England, found throughout western and southern Europe.
2. n. A dyestuff and pigment obtained from the roots of Rubia tinctorum and other plants of the same family. It yields colors of the greatest permanence, and is employed in dyeing linen and cotton red. Two kinds are fixed upon cotton: one is called madder-red, and the other, which possesses a much higher degree of luster and fixity, is called Adrianople red, because it is largely exported from that city, or Turkey red, from the fact that for a long time it was mainly obtained from the Levant; it is also produced near Leghorn and Trieste. In the trade this madder bears the name of alizari or lizari. The roots are broken up by means of wooden stampers, which reduce the bark and splint-bark to powder, leaving the hard inner part unbroken; but the whole root is sometimes pulverized. The coloring principle of madder is termed alizarin. Madder contains also a red pigment, purpurin or rubiacin, which is extracted in the form of orange-colored prismatic crystals, and yields a good dye, either alone or in combination with alizarin. Through the peculiar chemical affinity of phosphate of lime for its coloring matter, madder is noted for its remarkable physiological effect of turning red the bones of animals to which it is fed, as well as the claws and beaks of birds.
3. n. Oldenlandia umbellata.
4. n. Some species of the genus Hedyotis.
5. n. The white bedstraw, Galium Mollugo.
6. To dye with madder.
7. n. A large wooden drinking-vessel.
8. n. Same as purple-black.

Wiktionary

1. adj. comparative form of mad: more mad
2. n. alternative spelling of mether.(obsolete)
3. n. A herbaceous plant, Rubia tinctorum, native to Asia, cultivated for a red-purple dye obtained from the root.
4. n. The root of the plant, used as a medicine or a dye.
5. n. A dye made from the plant.
6. n. A deep reddish purple colour, like that of the dye.
7. adj. Of a deep reddish purple colour, like that of the dye.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Rubia (Rubia tinctorum). The root is much used in dyeing red, and formerly was used in medicine. It is cultivated in France and Holland. See rubiaceous.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. color a moderate to strong red
2. n. Eurasian herb having small yellow flowers and red roots formerly an important source of the dye alizarin