Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A bright red mercuric sulfide used as a pigment.
- n. A vivid red to reddish orange. Also called Chinese red, cinnabar.
- adj. Of a vivid red to reddish orange.
- v. To color or dye (something) in the hue vermilion.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The kermes- or cochineal-insect; also, the product of cochineal; worm-dye.
- n. The red sulphid of mercury, or the mineral cinnabar, occurring in nature of a red-brown to a carmine-red color; also, a pigment formerly made by grinding selected pieces of native cinnabar, but now made artificially. The pigment is produced in two ways, In the wet way mercury, sulphur, potash, and water are mixed together in proper proportions, put into horizontal iron cylinders containing agitators, and stirred constantly for about an hour. The mass first turns black, then brick-red, and finally acquires the desired vermilion-red color. The potash is simply a carrier, and does not enter into the composition of the finished product.
- n. A color such as that of the above pigment; a beautiful brilliant red color.
- n. A cotton cloth dyed with vermilion.
- n. Same as vermeil, 4.
- Of the color of vermilion; of the brilliant pure-red color common in the bloom of the single scarlet geranium: as, a vermilion dye.
- To color with or as with vermilion; dye red; cover or suffuse with a bright red.
Wiktionary
- n. A vivid red synthetic pigment made of mercury sulfide.
- n. A vivid red or slightly orange colour.
- n. A type of red dye worn in the parting of the hair by married Hindu women.
- n. A red skin of the lip or its border with the skin of the face.
- adj. Having a brilliant red colour.
- adj. Having the color of the vermilion dye.
- v. transitive To color or paint vermilion.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Chem.) A bright red pigment consisting of mercuric sulphide, obtained either from the mineral cinnabar or artificially. It has a fine red color, and is much used in coloring sealing wax, in printing, etc.
- n. Hence, a red color like the pigment; a lively and brilliant red.
- v. To color with vermilion, or as if with vermilion; to dye red; to cover with a delicate red.
WordNet 3.0
- v. color vermilion
- n. a variable color that is vivid red but sometimes with an orange tinge
- adj. of a vivid red to reddish-orange color
Etymologies
- From French vermeil ("vermilion"), from Latin vermiculus ("little worm"), the coccus Indicus, from vermis ("worm"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English vermelion, from Old French vermeillon, from vermeil; see vermeil. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“By other means it can be prepared as a brilliant red powder known as vermilion, which is used as a pigment in fine paints.”
“She rubs her forehead against the bride's so as to colour it also with vermilion, which is now considered the symbol of a long and happy married life.”
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II
“Another rite portraying the transfer in India is the marking of the bride's forehead with vermilion, which is no doubt a substitute for blood.”
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV)
“When the stout foliage grows glossy, waved, and of a deep clear green colour, the edges of the leaves become lined with red as if hemmed with red silk; the leaves also have the edges irregular in form, the outline broadly oval, 4in. to 6in. long, and they are veined and slightly wrinkled; during the autumn a yellow tint starts from the edge, and in time becomes a vermilion, which is all the more effective from the leaf being of leather-like substance.”
“Much gilding was used in the stucco-work, especially of the cupolas: and the interstices were delicately pencilled with brilliant colors, such as vermilion and lapis lazuli, laid on with the whites of eggs.”
“Our opinion, expressed with some diffidence, is, that pigments whose colour depends on the union of sulphur with a metal -- such as vermilion and cadmium yellow -- are more stable when the sulphur is forced to bite into the base.”
Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists
“Another kind of "vermilion" consists entirely of peroxide of iron, prepared especially to imitate the brilliant and costly sulphide of mercury, which it does very well, and is largely used in England, France, and America.”
“In the case of a very heavy colour such as vermilion, a drop of glue solution will keep the colour smooth for printing, and less paste is necessary.”
“In the case of a very heavy colour such as vermilion a drop of glue and water may help; but with practically all the colours that are generally used the rice paste and careful printing are enough.”
“Take, for example, the very chromatic pigments representing red and green, such as vermilion and emerald green.”
A Color Notation A measured color system, based on the three qualities Hue, Value and Chroma
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vermilion’.
-
Reds
crimson, blood, scarlet, rott, rojo, brick, fire engine, vermilion, carmine, burgundy, amaranth, alizarin and 115 more...
-
Artistic words
Good for poetry, or just artistic on their own.
fluxus, gallant, kinetic, lurk, disengage, mist, agleam, voyeur, devoid, crimson, ebony, azure and 94 more...
-
250 Extra Spelling Words
Some more words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
cultellarius, barouche, palanquin, badelaire, cavetto, tregetour, tergiversate, rhododendron, rhadamanthine, thyrsus, cappelletti, bradycardia and 238 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
phrontistery-v
from phrontistery.info
vaccary, vaccimulgence, vaccine, vacillate, vadelect, vade-mecum, vadimony, vadose, vafrous, vagient, vagile, vagility and 396 more...
-
Archaic Colours
Words for colours that have fallen out of use.
aeneous, croceate, cretaceous, cramoisy, corbeau, coquelicot, coccineous, claret, cinerious, chrysochlorous, chlorochrous, cesious and 128 more...
-
Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
-
not your normal colors
Instead of "blue," "red," or "green," we say "azure," "scarlet," and "emerald."
azure, garnet, celadon, bone, vermilion, indigo, maize, puce, tangerine, beryl, cerulean
-
Lions and tigers and—Well, just lions...
million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, decillion, undecillion, duodecillion and 66 more...
-
Watercolours
The naming of colours is a difficult matter,
it isn't just one of your holiday games.emerald green, viridian green, hooker's green, phthalo green, sap green, cobalt titanite, olive green, bismuth yellow, quinacridone red, manganese violet, venetian red, burnt sienna and 31 more...
-
Colors/Patterns/Prints/Textures
fritillary, chartreuse, tortoise-shell, brindle, burnt orange, cerulean, amaranth, sandy, amber, mold, fungus, kiwi and 65 more...
-
RED
red dyes, pigments, etc., names for red
mucicarmine, zoonerythrin, sindoor, minium, vermilion, brazilin, rose madder lake, quinacridone, haematin, erythrosin, eurhodin, nuclear fast red and 8 more...
-
Talking About Words
The favorite words of Talking Tyrants
dolorous, parsimonious, apotemnophilia, odalisque, tuberoinfundibular, morass, ostentatious, sybaritic, vermilion, onomatopoeia, eschatology, teleology and 49 more...
-
HollieGolightly's list
indigo, flippant, quaint, ebullience, subterfuge, conspicuous, surreptitiously, kodachrome, doppelganger, hullabaloo, nabob, motley and 21 more...
-
jonasword's list
My words unusual strange new clever or stupid
puce, ecru, magenta, mauve, taupe, azure, cerulean, celadon, cinnabar, viridian, vermilion, ultramarine and 6 more...
-
Colors
Different words for colors; ex: florid, cerise, claret, etc.
cerise, florid, claret, chartreuse, watchet, argent, tawny, xanthous, rosaceous, ocher, pewter, coquelicot and 3 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for vermilion.

knitandpurl "I wanted to know the original spelling of the name Jean. I learned it when I received a letter from a nephew of Mme de Villeparisis who signs himself—as he was christened, as he figures in the Almanach de Gotha—Jehan de Villeparisis, with the same handsome, superfluous, heraldic h that we admire, illuminated in vermilion or ultramarine, in a Book of Hours or in a stained-glass window."
--The Captive & The Fugitive by Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright, p 39 of the Modern Library paperback edition Dec 24, 2009
oroboros also see vermillion. Nov 17, 2007
brtom "In amazon costume, hard hat, jackboots cockspurred, vermilion waistcoat, fawn musketeer gauntlets with braided drums, long train held up and hunting crop with which she strikes her welt constantly."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15 Feb 8, 2007