one of the simple or primary colours of natural bodies, or rather of the rays of light. See Optics.

in dying, is one of the five simple or mother colours. Some reckon six kinds or casts of red, viz., scarlet red, crimson red, madder red, half-grain red, lively orange red, and scarlet of cochineal: but they may be all reduced to the three following, according to the three principal drugs which give the colours, viz., the kermes, cochineal, and madder.

in heraldry. See Gules.