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azure

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Azureandazuré

English

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EnglishWikipediahas an article on:
Wikipedia
The arms of Berington of Chester are simplyazure.

Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishasure,fromOld Frenchazur,derived fromArabicلَازَوَرْد(lāzaward,“lapis lazuli”),dropping thelas if it were equivalent to the French articlel’.The Arabic is fromClassical Persianلاجورد(lājward,“lapis lazuli”),from the region of Lajward inBadakhshan.

Compare withItalianazzurroandSpanishazul.

Pronunciation

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/ˈæʒə(ɹ)/is the first (sometimes only) pronunciation listed in many dictionaries[1][2][3][4][5][6]and is the most commonly used.[7]Second-most commonly mentioned is/ˈæzjʊə(ɹ)/.[2][4][5][6]Though missed by most other dictionaries,/əˈz(j)ʊə(ɹ)/and/əˈʒʊə(ɹ)/with stress on the second syllable are also common.[7]
  • Other, uncommon[7]pronunciations are/ˈæʒʊə(ɹ)/[8]and/ˈæʒjʊə(ɹ)/[2][6]In older English,/ˈeɪ-/also occurred and is still recorded in some dictionaries,[2]but rarely used.

Noun

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azure(countableanduncountable,pluralazures)

  1. (countableanduncountable)The clear blue colour of the sky; also, a pigment or dye of this colour.
    azure:
  2. (heraldry)Abluecolour on acoat of arms,represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.
    • 1904,Arthur Charles Fox-Davies,The Art of Heraldry: An Encyclopaedia of Armory,London: T.C.; & E.C. Jack, page41:
      Berington of Chester (on the authority of Harleian manuscript No. 1535) is said to bear a plain shield of azure. Personally I doubt this coat of arms[…]
    • 1997,Brault,Early Blazon:
      InBb[Glover's Roll], the conventional letterBis used to indicateazurein most items.
    • 2010,E. Baumgaertner Wm E. Baumgaertner, Wm E. Baumgaertner,Squires, Knights, Barons, Kings: War and Politics in Fifteenth Century England,Trafford Publishing,→ISBN:
      Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy: before 1399: or, a lion rampantazure,differentiated with a label gules (a blue lion rampant on a field of gold, differentiated with a red label signifying the first-born son)[…]
    azure (heraldry):
  3. (poetic)The unclouded sky; the blue vault above.
    • 1667,John Milton,“Book I”, inParadise Lost.[…],London:[…][Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[…];[a]nd by Robert Boulter[…];[a]nd Matthias Walker,[…],→OCLC;republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books:[…],London: Basil Montagu Pickering[…],1873,→OCLC:
      Not like those steps / On heaven'sazure.
    • 1889,Mathilde Blind,“[Poems of the Open Air.]Reapers.”, inThe Ascent of Man,London:Chatto & Windus,[…],→OCLC,page140:
      Not a single cloud mars the flawlessazure;/ Not a shadow moves o'er the moveless crops; [...]
  4. Any of various widely distributedlycaenidbutterflies of thegenusCelastrina.
  5. Any of various Australasianlycaenidbutterflies of the genusOgyris.
  6. Lapis lazuli.

Alternative forms

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  • (blue color on a coat of arms):az.,b.,bl.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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azure(notcomparable)

  1. Sky blue;resembling the clear blue colour of the unclouded sky.
    Synonym:cerulean
  2. Cloudless.
  3. (heraldry)Inblazon,of the colour blue.
    • 1846,Edgar Allan Poe,The Cask of Amontillado:
      ‘I forget your coat of arms.’
      ‘A human foot d’or, in a fieldazure;the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

Translations

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Verb

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azure(third-person singular simple presentazures,present participleazuring,simple past and past participleazured)

  1. (transitive)Tocolourblue.
    • 1907,The Sugar Beet,volume28,page271:
      Our readers are aware that much of the sugar sold in many countries goes through anazuringtreatment; blue is added to granulated sugar with the view of making it appear whiter than it actually is.

Translations

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See also

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Colors/Colours in English(layout·text)
red orange yellow green blue(incl.indigo;
cyan,teal,turquoise) 		purple/violet
pink(including
magenta) 		brown white gray/grey black
metals main colours less common colours
tincture or argent gules azure sable vert purpure tenné orange sanguine
depiction a shield of gold a shield of silver a shield of red a shield of blue a shield of black a shield of green a shield of purple a shield of brownish orange a shield of bright orange a shield of blood red
roundel(in parentheses:semé): a circle of gold
bezant(bezanty)		 a circle of silver
plate(platy)		 a circle of red
torteau(tortelly)		 a circle of blue
hurt(hurty)		 a circle of black
pellet(pellety),ogress		 a circle of green
pomme

 a circle of purple
golpe(golpy)		 a circle of orange
orange(semé of oranges)		 a circle of blood red
guze(semé of guzes)
goutte(noun)/gutty(adj)thereof: a drop of gold
(goutte/gutty)d'or(ofgold)		 a drop of silver
d'eau(ofwater)		 a drop of red
de sang(ofblood)		 a drop of blue
de larmes(oftears)		 a drop of black
de poix

(ofpitch)		 a drop of green
d'huile/d'olive(olive oil)		 a drop of purple
special roundel furs additional, uncommon tinctures:
tincture fountain,syke:barry wavy argent and azure ermine ermines,counter-ermine erminois pean vair counter-vair potent counter-potent bleu celeste,brunâtre,carnation,cendrée(iron,steel,acier),copper,murrey
depiction a circle of wavy blue and silver bars a shield of ermine a shield of ermines a shield of erminois a shield of pean a shield of vair a shield of countervair a shield of potent a shield of counterpotent

References

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  1. ^“azure”,inMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:Merriam-Webster,1996–present.
  2. ↑2.02.12.22.3Oxford English Dictionary,1884–1928, andFirst Supplement,1933. (modern OED online,1933 print edition)
  3. ^“azure”,inDictionary Unabridged,Dictionary, LLC,1995–present.
  4. ↑4.04.1“azure”,inOxford Learner's Dictionaries
  5. ↑5.05.1“azure”,inCambridge English Dictionary,Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:Cambridge University Press,1999–present.
  6. ↑6.06.16.2Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, "azure"
  7. ↑7.07.17.2See data inthe February 2022 Tea Room.
  8. ^“azure”,inCollins English Dictionary.

Further reading

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  • 2015March 26, Jeremy Butterfield,Fowler's Dictionary of Modern[British]English Usage,Oxford University Press,→ISBN,page85:
    azure. This 14c. loanword from French has fluctuated in pronunciation in the last two centuries between /ˈaʒ(j)ʊə/, /ˈaʒə/ (OED, 1885, Daniel Jones, 1917, but both cite other pronunciations as well), and /ˈeɪ-/ (given as a variant in OED and Jones). The initial sound is now usually /a-/ as incat,not /eɪ-/, as inpay.The final sound varies between /-ʒjʊə/ rhyming with pure /pjʊə/ (the dominant pronunciation) and /-ə/.
  • 2015March 30, Greg Brooks,Dictionary of the British English Spelling System,Open Book Publishers,→ISBN,page190:
    […]azurepronounced /ˈæzjʊə, ˈeɪzjʊə/ (also pronounced /ˈæzjə, ˈeɪzjə, ˈæʒə, ˈeɪʒə/)

French

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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azure

  1. inflection ofazurer:
    1. first/third-personsingularpresentindicative/subjunctive
    2. second-personsingularimperative

Portuguese

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Noun

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azurem(uncountable)

  1. Alternative form ofazur
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