dye

USDY/daɪ/

Pluraldyes, dyce

Verbdyes, dyeing, dyed

4 meanings of dye

1
nouncountable or uncountable
A colored substance used to give cloth, hair, or other things a new color.
Like food coloring that soaks into icing and stays there.
She dropped the white shirt into a pot of blue dye.
The dye soaked deep into the wool and turned it bright red.
Similarcolorant, stain, tint, pigment, coloring
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2
verbtransitive or intransitive
To give something a new color by soaking it in colored liquid.
Like dipping a white cloth into tea until it turns brown.
We can dye the curtains green to match the walls.
She wanted to dye her hair before the party.
Similarcolor, tint, stain, tinge
Oppositebleach
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3
nouncountable or uncountable
A color or shade of any kind.
Shells of every dye lay along the beach after the storm.
The bird's feathers had a bright blue dye that shone in the sun.
Similarhue, color, shade, tint
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Less common meaning

4
nounarchaic
Archaic spelling of die. It means the small cube with numbered sides used in games of chance.
If a dye were marked with one figure or number of spots on four sides, and with another figure or number of spots on the two remaining sides, it would be more probable, that the former would turn up than the latter;
1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral.Here, dye is an old spelling of die, one of a pair of dice.
The Superficies was compoſed of ſeveral bits of Wood, about the bigneſs of a Dye, but ſome larger than others.
1726, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Permitted to See the Grand Academy of Lagado.”
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Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1, 3

From Old English dēah, dēag meaning "color" or "dye." It goes back to an old root meaning "to be dark" or "to conceal."

Meaning 2

From Old English dēagian, formed from the noun meaning "dye."