/ˈæʒə/, /ˈæz.jʊə/, /ˈæʒjʊə/
OriginFrom 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 Classical Persian لاجورد (lājward, “lapis lazuli”), from the region of Lajward in Badakhshan.
Compare with Italian azzurro and Spanish azul.
- countable, uncountableThe clear blue colour of the sky; also, a pigment or dye of this colour.
“In robes of azure.”
“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 […]”
- countable, uncountableA blue colour on a coat of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.
“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 […]”
“In Bb [Glover's Roll], the conventional letter B is used to indicate azure in most items.”
“Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy: before 1399: or, a lion rampant azure, differentiated with a label gules (a blue lion rampant on a field of gold, differentiated with a red label signifying the first-born s”
- countable, poetic, uncountableThe unclouded sky; the blue vault above.
“Not like those steps / On heaven's azure.”
“Not a single cloud mars the flawless azure; / Not a shadow moves o'er the moveless crops; [...]”
- countable, uncountableAny of various widely distributed lycaenid butterflies of the genus Celastrina.
- countable, uncountableAny of various Australasian lycaenid butterflies of the genus Ogyris.
- countable, uncountableLapis lazuli.
- not-comparableSky blue; resembling the clear blue colour of the unclouded sky.
“When Britain first, at Heaven's command / Arose from out the azure main.”
- not-comparableCloudless.
- not-comparableIn blazon, of the colour blue.
“‘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.’”
“On the fesse are two bars wavy azure for waterways.”
- transitiveTo colour blue.
“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.”
Formsazures(plural) · az.(alternative) · b.(alternative) · bl.(alternative) · azures(present, singular, third-person) · azuring(participle, present) · azured(participle, past) · azured(past) · Azures(plural)