scarlets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of scarlet.

   The swatch card laid out a dozen scarlets, from deep crimson to bright orange-red.

   Cardinals and tanagers wore brilliant scarlets against the green canopy.

   Note

   Only the countable side of scarlet can take a plural. As a mass noun for the color in general, scarlet has none. Scarlets counts things: either distinct shades of that brilliant red, sometimes tinged with orange, or kinds and lengths of cloth dyed the color. A swatch card of a dozen scarlets therefore shows a dozen different reds, each one a separate shade.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of scarlet.

   Note

   The verb form shares its spelling with the plural noun, and its position in the sentence tells them apart. After a singular subject such as she or the dye, it is the verb. After a number or an article, it is the noun. Scarlet as a verb takes an object, meaning to dye or tinge something scarlet, so its core pattern has someone acting on a thing: the dyer scarlets the wool.

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