azure

See also: Azure and azuré

EnglishEdit

English Wikipedia has an article on:

azure

From Middle English asure, from Old French azur, derived from Arabic لَازَوَرْد‎ (lāzaward, “lapis lazuli”), dropping the l as if it were equivalent to the French article l'. The Arabic is from Persian ‎ (lâjvard, “lapis lazuli”), from the region of Lajward in Turkestan.

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæʒ.ə/, /ˈæz.jʊə/, /æzˈjʊə/, /əˈzjʊə/, sometimes also /ˈeɪʒ.ə/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈæʒ.ɚ/, /əˈʒʊɹ/, /əˈʒɝ/, /əˈzjʊɹ/, /əˈzjɝ/, sometimes also /eɪ-/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ʊɹ, -ʊə
Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)

azure (countable and uncountable, plural azures)

(countable and uncountable) The clear blue colour of the sky; also, a pigment or dye of this colour.
- 1815, William Wordsworth, Extracts from An Evening Walk
  In robes of azure.
- 2014, William H. Gass, On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry (page 59)
  For our blues we have the azures and ceruleans, lapis lazulis, the light and dusty, the powder blues, the deeps: royal, sapphire, navy, and marine […]
azure:
(heraldry) A blue colour on a coat of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.
- 1997, Brault, Early Blazon:
  In Bb [Glover's Roll], the conventional letter B is used to indicate azure in most items.
azure (heraldry):
(poetic) The unclouded sky; the blue vault above.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
  Not like those steps / On heaven's azure.
- 1889, Mathilde Blind, “[Poems of the Open Air.] Reapers.”, in The Ascent of Man, London: Chatto & Windus, […], OCLC 1017374996, page 140:
  Not a single cloud mars the flawless azure; / Not a shadow moves o'er the moveless crops; [...]
Any of various widely distributed lycaenid butterflies of the genus Celastrina.
Any of various Australasian lycaenid butterflies of the genus Ogyris.
Lapis lazuli.

blue colour on a coat of arms

colour of the sky

Italian: azzurro (it) m
Japanese: 空色 (sorairo), 天色 (ja) (てんしょく, tenshoku)
Korean: 하늘색 (ko) (haneulsaek)
Lithuanian: dangaus mėlyna f
Malay: biru langit (ms), lazuardi (ms)
Maltese: kaħlani m, kaħlanija f
Polish: lazur (pl) m inan, błękit (pl) m inan
Portuguese: azul celeste m
Romanian: azur (ro) n
Russian: лазу́рь (ru) f (lazúrʹ), лазурный (ru) m (lazurnyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: а̀зӯрна f, пла̑ва f, ведра f

Roman: àzūrna (sh) f, plȃva (sh) f, vedra (sh) f
Swedish: azur (sv) c, azurblått (sv) ?, himmelsblått (sv) ?
Thai: ฟ้า (th) (fáa)
Turkish: gökşin (tr), gökçe (tr), gök (tr), gök mavisi (tr), gök rengi
Volapük: lasürablöv (vo)

the blue sky

lapis lazuli — see lapis lazuli

azure (not comparable)

sky blue; resembling the clear blue colour of the unclouded sky
Synonym: cerulean
- 1740, James Thomson, Rule, Britannia!
  When Britain first, at Heaven's command / Arose from out the azure main.
cloudless
(heraldry) In blazon, 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 field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

sky-blue coloured

heraldry: of blue colour on a coat of arms

azure (third-person singular simple present azures, present participle azuring, simple past and past participle azured)

(transitive) To colour blue.
- 1907, The Sugar Beet (volume 28, page 271)
  Our readers are aware that much of the sugar sold in many countries goes through an azuring treatment; blue is added to granulated sugar with the view of making it appear whiter than it actually is.