See Also: Ruby(medicine)
ruby(dictionary)
ruby(encyclopedia)
ruby(dictionary)
rose-a-ruby(dictionary)
ruby spots(medicine)
Ruby, Jack(dictionary)
balas ruby(medicine)
Ruby of Siam(tourism)
Ruby Memorial Hospital(health)

ruby (iou)



ruby noun, adjective, & verb. ['ru:bi] ME.
[Old French rubi (mod. rubis) from medieval Latin rubinus use as noun of adjective from base of Latin rubeus, ruber red.]
A. noun.
A rare and valuable precious stone varying from deep crimson or purple to pale rose-red, now recognized as a variety of corundum. Also (now usu. with specifying word), a red spinel (formerly confused with this). ME.
BALAS-ruby. spinel ruby: see SPINEL 1.
A person (esp. a woman) of great worth or beauty. ME-L16.
a. Alchemy. The red form of the philosopher's stone. L15-E17.
b. Chemistry. A red compound of an element or elements. Usu. foll. by of. Long obsolete exc. Hist. L17.
a. A red facial spot or pimple. M16.
b. In pl. The lips. Chiefly poet. L16.
The colour of a ruby; a glowing purplish red; Heraldry (long obsolete exc. Hist.) the tincture gules in the fanciful blazon of arms of peers. L16.
a. Red wine. Chiefly poet. L17.
b. Blood. slang. M19.
A size of type (equal to 5 1 / 2 points) intermediate between nonpareil and pearl. L18.
ellipt. Ruby glass; ruby port. M19.
b. adjective.
Of the colour of a ruby, of a glowing purplish red; Heraldry (long obsolete exc. Hist.) of the tincture gules in the fanciful blazon of arms of peers. L15.
Lady One lady had a ruby velvet, trimmed with costly lace.
Of or pertaining to a ruby or rubies; set or provided with a ruby or rubies. E16.
ruby mine, ruby ring, ruby stone, etc.
Special collocations & comb. (of noun & adjective): ruby anniversary = ruby wedding below. ruby-back, ruby-backed adjectives designating fine Chinese porcelain backed with pink or crimson enamel. ruby blende a reddish-brown transparent variety of sphalerite. ruby copper cuprous oxide. ruby-dazzler Austral. & NZ slang a thing of exceptional quality. ruby glass glass coloured by various metallic oxides. ruby port a deep red port, esp. one matured in wood for only a few years and then fined. ruby-red (of) the colour of a ruby, (of) a glowing purplish red. ruby silver (a) proustite; (b) pyrargyrite. ruby spinel = SPINEL 1. ruby-tail (more fully ruby-tail fly, ruby-tail wasp) = ruby-tailed fly below. ruby-tailed adjective having a red tail; ruby-tailed fly, ruby-tailed wasp, any of various cuckoo wasps which have part of the abdomen a metallic red colour; esp. any European species of the genus Chrysis. rubythroat (a) (in full Siberian rubythroat) a small bird, Luscinia calliope, related to the European robin, which breeds in Siberia, and the male of which has a red throat; (b) = ruby-throated hummingbird below. ruby-throated adjective (of a bird) having a red throat; ruby-throated hummingbird, a hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, that has a metallic green back and is the commonest hummingbird in much of N. America; ruby-throated warbler = rubythroat (a) above. ruby wedding the fortieth (or forty-fifth) anniversary of a wedding. ruby zinc (a) = ruby blende above; (b) zincite.
C. verb trans. Dye or tinge with a ruby colour. Chiefly as rubied ppl adjective. poet. E18.