Ruby
Ruby , noun
[French rubis (compare Pr. robi), Late Latin rubinus, robinus, from Latin rubeus red, reddish, akin to ruber. See Rouge, red.]
1.
(Mineralogy) A precious stone of a carmine red color, sometimes verging to violet, or intermediate between carmine and hyacinth red. It is a red crystallized variety of corundum.
Of rubies, sapphires, and pearles white.
Besides the true or Oriental ruby above defined, there are the balas ruby, or ruby spinel, a red variety of spinel, and the rock ruby, a red variety of garnet.
2.
The color of a ruby; carmine red; a red tint.
The natural ruby of your cheeks.
3.
That which has the color of the ruby, as red wine. Hence, a red blain or carbuncle.
4.
5.
(Zoology) Any species of South American humming birds of the genus Clytolaema. The males have a ruby-colored throat or breast.
Collocations (3)
Ruby of arsenic or Ruby of sulphur (Chemistry) , a glassy substance of a red color and a variable composition, but always consisting chiefly of the disulphide of arsenic; -- called also ruby sulphur.
Ruby of zinc (Mineralogy) , zinc sulphide; the mineral zinc blende or sphalerite.
Ruby , adjective
Ruby-colored; red; as, ruby lips.
Ruby , transitive verb
To make red; to redden. [Rare] — Pope