Word of the Day

: February 28, 2009

vinaceous

adjective vye-NAY-shus

What It Means

: of the color of red wine

vinaceous in Context

At the art museum, we saw a portrait of Mary II wearing a magnificent vinaceous dress befitting her royal splendor.

Did You Know?

The first recorded evidence of "vinaceous" in English dates from 1688, shortly before the accession of Mary II. If ever the queen used "vinaceous," she was probably in the confines of her landscaped garden, admiring the vinaceous shades of petals or looking indifferently at the vinaceous cap of a mushroom; since its beginning, "vinaceous" has flourished in the earthy lexicon of horticulture and mycology. It has also taken flight in the ornithological world as a descriptive word for the unique dark-red coloring of some birds, like the vinaceous amazon or vinaceous rosefinch.