dye
/daɪ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.82 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A colorant, especially one that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is applied.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To colour with dye, or as if with dye.
Example Sentences
- "While the yarn is soaking in its water and vinegar bath, I prepare a selection of dyes for my preferred colorway. Isolate each dye in its own jar and place it in the larger dyepot."
- "You look different. Have you had your hair dyed?"
- "But tho’ Black cannot be Dyed to the laſt perfection either in Wool or Hair without Woad, the Hatters have quite left off their accuſtomed uſe of it in the Dying of Hatts, and believe at the ſame time, that too ſtrong a Black makes the Hairs or Nap fall off, which is very neceſſary for the ſale and beauty of the Hatts, though this rather proceeds from the hand of the Workman that dreſſes them than in Dying them, or the Hairs not being ſufficiently fulled, or ſtrongly enough united to the felt; […]"
- "If indeed sharks were inclined to eat people, the world's oceans would be dyed crimson with the blood of millions."
- "From there, customization simply becomes a matter of crafting trims at a smithing table, then dyeing them “using gems and ingots like diamonds, copper, and netherite.”"
- "I found this 4-500 Mesh Nylon Strainer Flour Sieve handy and budget-friendly, especially for those who dye often and want to keep solids out of their pots effortlessly."
Etymology
From Middle English deye, from Old English dēah, dēag (“color, hue, dye”), from Proto-West Germanic *daugu (“color, shade”), from *daugan (“to conceal, be dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust, camouflage”). Cognates Cognate with Old High German tougan (“dark, secretive”), tougal (“dark, hidden, covert”), Old English dēagol, dīegle (“dark, hidden, secret”), Old English dohs, dox (“dusky, dark”). See dusk.