azure

Etymology

Middle English asure, from Old French azur, derived from Arabic لَازَوَرْد‎ (lāzaward, “lapis lazuli”), dropping the l as if it were equivalent to the French article l'. The Arabic is from Persian لاجورد‎ (lâjvard, “lapis lazuli”), from the region of Lajward in Turkestan.

Compare with Italian azzurro and Spanish azul.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæʒ(j)ʊə/, /æʒˈ(j)ʊə/, /ˈæʒə/, /ˈæzjʊə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæʒɚ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈæɪʒə/, /əˈʒʉə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

azure (countable and uncountable, plural azures)

1. (heraldry) A blue colour on a coat of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.
   • 1997, Brault, Early Blazon:

     In Bb [Glover's Roll], the conventional letter B is used to indicate azure in most items.

2. (countable and uncountable) The clear blue colour of the sky; also, a pigment or dye of this colour.

   azure colour:  

   • Wordsworth

     In robes of azure.

   • 2014, William H. Gass, On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry (page 59)

     For our blues we have the azures and ceruleans, lapis lazulis, the light and dusty, the powder blues, the deeps: royal, sapphire, navy, and marine […]

3. (poetic) The unclouded sky; the blue vault above.
   • John Milton's s:Paradise lost

     Not like those steps / On heaven's azure.

4. Lapis lazuli.

Adjective

azure (not comparable)

1. sky blue; resembling the clear blue colour of the unclouded sky

   Synonym: cerulean

   • Rule, Britannia!

     When Britain first, at Heaven's command / Arose from out the azure main.

2. cloudless
3. (heraldry) In blazon, of the colour blue.
   • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado

     ‘I forget your coat of arms.’
     ‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

Verb

azure (third-person singular simple present azures, present participle azuring, simple past and past participle azured)

1. (transitive) To colour blue.
   • 1907, The Sugar Beet (volume 28, page 271)

     Our readers are aware that much of the sugar sold in many countries goes through an azuring treatment; blue is added to granulated sugar with the view of making it appear whiter than it actually is.

See also

• (blues) blue; Alice blue, aqua, aquamarine, azure, baby blue, beryl, bice, bice blue, blue green, blue violet, blueberry, cadet blue, Cambridge blue, cerulean, cobalt blue, Copenhagen blue, cornflower, cornflower blue, cyan, Dodger blue, duck-egg blue, eggshell blue, electric-blue, gentian blue, ice blue, lapis lazuli, lovat, mazarine, midnight blue, navy, Nile blue, Oxford blue, peacock blue, petrol blue, powder blue, Prussian blue, robin's-egg blue, royal blue, sapphire, saxe blue, slate blue, sky blue, teal, turquoise, ultramarine, Wedgwood blue, zaffre

Pronunciation

• Homophones: azurent, azures

Verb

azure

1. first-person singular present indicative of azurer
2. third-person singular present indicative of azurer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of azurer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of azurer
5. second-person singular imperative of azurer

Noun

azure m (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of azur