Blush /(blŭsh)/

Blush

v. i.

imp. & p. p. Blushed; p. pr. & vb. n. Blushing

  1. To become suffused with red in the cheeks, as from a sense of shame, modesty, or confusion; to become red from such cause, as the cheeks or face.
    To the nuptial bower I led her blushing like the morn.
    In the presence of the shameless and unblushing, the young offender is ashamed to blush.
    — Buckminster.
    He would stroke The head of modest and ingenuous worth, That blushed at its own praise.
  2. To grow red; to have a red or rosy color.
    The sun of heaven, methought, was loth to set, But stayed, and made the western welkin blush.
  3. To have a warm and delicate color, as some roses and other flowers.
    Full many a flower is born to blush unseen.
    — T. Gray.

Blush

v. t.
  1. To suffuse with a blush; to redden; to make roseate. [Obs.]
    To blush and beautify the cheek again.
  2. To express or make known by blushing.
    I'll blush you thanks.

Blush

n.
  1. A suffusion of the cheeks or face with red, as from a sense of shame, confusion, or modesty.
    The rosy blush of love.
    — Trumbull.
  2. A red or reddish color; a rosy tint.
    Light's last blushes tinged the distant hills.
    — Lyttleton.

Phrases & Compounds

At first blush
at the first appearance or view.
To put to the blush
to cause to blush with shame; to put to shame.