crimsons

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of crimson.

   The gallery wall displayed a dozen crimsons, each labeled with the pigment used.

   Autumn leaves showed deep crimsons against the gray morning sky.

   Note

   A plural that only one side of the noun can take. As a color in general, crimson is a mass noun, as in a room done in crimson. Once it names particular shades or patches of that red, it becomes countable, and that is where the plural lives: a painter's crimsons, the crimsons of autumn leaves. The same spelling also serves the verb meaning 'blushes' or 'reddens'.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of crimson.

   His face crimsons the moment anyone mentions his old nickname.

   The horizon crimsons just before the storm clouds roll in.

   Note

   Here one form carries both halves of the verb. Without an object, it means flushing or turning deep red: a face crimsons, a sky crimsons. With an object, it means dyeing or reddening something, so a sunset crimsons the water. The test is simple. If something follows that receives the color, it is the transitive use. If the subject itself changes color, it is the intransitive one.

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