Definition of "ochre"

ochre¹

/ˈəʊkə/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural ochres
1. A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide
2. A somewhat dark yellowish orange colour
3. (molecular biology, colloquial) The stop codon sequence "UAA."
4. (slang) Money, especially gold.
  Quotations
  ‘What does he come here cheeking us for, then?’ cried Master Kidderminster, showing a very irascible temperament. ‘If you want to cheek us, pay your ochre at the doors and take it out.’
  1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 6, in Hard Times‎
5. Any of various brown-coloured hesperiid butterflies of the genus Trapezites.
adjective
not comparable
1. Having a yellow-orange colour.
2. (archaeology) Referring to cultures that covered their dead with ochre.
verb
third-person singular simple present ochres, present participle ochring or ochreing, simple past and past participle ochred
1. To cover or tint with ochre.
  Quotations
  […] his eye was caught by the sight of one child in a group of smaller children playing in the shallows some little distance down—a white child, so white by contrast with the others that at first he thought it must be ochred, which it could not be while playing in the water.
  1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter 14, in Capricornia‎, New York: Appleton, published 1943, page 229
  The sun gloats in the sky, casting a gleam on the pasture where there was so much umbering and ochreing only moments before.
  2009 July 6, Verlyn Klinkenborg, “How the Thunder Sounds”, in New York Times‎

ochre²

noun
countable and uncountable, plural ochres
1. (obsolete) Alternative form of okra.

Definition of "ochre"

ochre1

noun

Quotations

adjective

verb

Quotations

ochre2

noun

ochre¹

ochre²