blush means an act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.
blush is pronounced /ˈblʌʃ/.
Why “blush” is a great word
A reddening of the face, especially from modesty, embarrassment, or shame. From Middle English blusshen, from Old English blysċan ('to be red; shine'), from Proto-Germanic *bluskijaną ('to burn, glow'), from *blusjǭ ('torch'), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ('to shine, flash, burn'). Unlike 'flush' (which suggests the heat of fever, exertion, or anger) or 'redden' (a general term for any surface adopting a hue), a blush is a fire lit solely by the self-conscious soul. It is the sudden warmth that betrays a secret thought, the delicate stain that blooms on a cheek at an unguarded compliment, the body's silent, luminous confession—a brief, beautiful surrender of our innermost privacy to the visible world.
Etymology
From Middle English blusshen, bluschen, blusschen, blisshen, from Old English blysċan (“to be red; shine”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *blaskijaną, from *blasǭ (“burning candle; torch”) or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *bluskijaną, from *blusjǭ (“torch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-.
Cognate with Middle Low German blöschen (“to blush”). Compare also Old English blysian (“to burn; blaze”), Dutch blozen (“to blush”), Danish blusse (“to blush”), Old Norse blys (“torch”), Danish blus (“blaze”).
noun
- An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.e.g.“Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,
Whom thou obeyed’st thirty and six years,
And not bewray thy treason with a blush?”
- A glow; a flush of colour, especially pink or red.e.g.“And now the rosy blush of morn began to mantle in the east, and soon the rising sun, emerging from amidst golden and purple clouds, shed his blithesome rays on the tin weathercocks of Communipaw.”
- A feeling or appearance of optimism.
- A cosmetic, frequently a powder, used to redden the cheeks and lips.
- A color between pink and cream.e.g.“Makeup colors like ivory and blush dominate spring collections and have even infiltrated Burberry's shoes.”
- The collective noun for a group of boys.e.g.“a blush of boys”
verb
- To become red or pink in the face (and sometimes experience an associated feeling of warmth), especially due to shyness, love, shame, excitement, or embarrassment.e.g.“The love scene made him blush to the roots of his hair / to the tips of his ears.”
- To be shy, ashamed, or embarrassed (to do something).e.g.“While Cato lives, Caesar will blush to see
Mankind enslaved, and be ashamed of Empire.”
- To become red or pink.e.g.“The sun of heaven, methought, was loth to set,
But stayed, and made the western welkin blush,”
- To suffuse with a blush; to redden; to pinken; to make rosy.e.g.“[the ghost] with the heart there cools and ne’er returneth
To blush and beautify the cheek again.”
- To change skin color in the face (to a particular shade).e.g.“When he saw it, he blushed a beet red.”
- To express or make known by blushing.e.g.“Looking at me with a knowing glare, she blushed her discomfort with the situation.”
- To have a warm and delicate colour, like some roses and other flowers.e.g.“The garden was full of blossoms that blushed in myriad shades to form a beautiful carpet of color.”
- To glance with the eye, cast a glance.
- Of dope or varnish: to develop an undesirable white precipitate on the surface, due to being applied in humid conditions.e.g.“Blushing is caused by doping under high relative humidity conditions.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.