rose colourrose colorn.
/ˈrəʊz ˌkʌlə/, U.S. /ˈroʊz ˌkələr/ 1. The colour of a rose, esp. a pink or light crimson tint or hue.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > red or redness > [noun] > shades of red > rose red
rosea1350
rose coloura1382
rosetc1450
rose-reda1475
rosinessa1586
blush1589
bloom-colour1797
rose madder1835
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Esther xv. 8 She forsothe thurȝshed the chere with rose colour [a1425 L. V. colour of roosis; a1450 Corpus Cambr. roose colouris; L. roseo colore].
?a1450 tr. Macer Herbal (Stockh.) (1949) 76 Neiþer þe rose colour ne þe lylie may oure-passe þe violet.
1486 in A. F. Johnston & M. Rogerson Rec. Early Eng. Drama: York (1979) I. 137 Also in wyne of Rosse colour A Tone.
c1500 (?a1475) Sir Landeval (Rawl. C. 86) (1889) 60 Owte of the forest cam maydyns two..With facys white as lely floure, With ruddy rede as rose colour.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Rev. xvii. 4 And the woman was arayed in purple and rose color.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Amethistus The more rose colour the better.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Rodite, a precious stone of a Rose-colour.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Anemone The Turkish or Bizantine [anemone], of a Rose-colour.
1780 J. T. Dillon Trav. Spain ii. vii. 299 [It is] called Rosicler by mineralogists, from its rose-colour appearance.
1793 T. Beddoes Observ. Nature & Cure Calculus 222 The blood contained in the left ventricle..was of a rose colour.
1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. I. 452 Body shaded with rose-colour, and silvery.
1856 J. Dana Rudim. Treat. Min. (ed. 3) 72 Rhodonite..is of a beautiful rose colour, inclining sometimes to violet.
1901 M. C. Dickerson Moths & Butterflies i. 83 There are conspicuous masses of rose color on the hind parts of the fore wings.
1958 ‘Miss Read’ Storm in Village v. 52 The bricks have weathered to a soft rose colour.
2007 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 25 May d8/2 The walls are a subtle rose color done with a technique called ragging, in which paint is applied with a rag rather than a brush.
2. figurative. In earlier use: something that offers the prospect of ease, success, comfort, pleasure, etc. Hence: a naively optimistic or idealistic outlook or perspective (cf. rose-coloured adj. 3). Also: the colour itself used to indicate such a view.
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the mind > emotion > pleasure > quality of being pleasant or pleasurable > [noun] > pleasant experience
time1509
jucundity1620
pleasantry1692
rose colour1828
picnic1870
upbeat1950
1828 L. Hunt Ld. Byron & Some Contemp. Pref. p. iii The very dread of seeing this new piece of rose-colour in my existence vanish before the re-exertion of my brain.
a1865 E. C. Gaskell Wives & Daughters (1866) I. xxv. 280 Such were the facts, but rose-colour was the medium through which they were seen.
1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude 124 The farmer's office is..important, but you must not try to paint him in rose-color.
1885 New Bk. Sports 222 A canoe trip cannot be warranted to be all rose-colour more than any other human undertaking.
1922 S. J. Weyman Ovington's Bank viii. 82 But for the money difficulty, and his mother's obstinacy, he would have seen all things in rose color.
1961 L. Auchincloss Pioneers & Caretakers (1966) 41 There was no rose color, however, in the glasses through which she viewed the past.
1992 Independent (Nexis) 23 Nov. 18 All my pairs of spectacles are unusual ones which have been tinted a special rose colour, and when I take a look at the future, I put these on first.
Derivatives
rose ˈcolourist n. a person who takes a rose-coloured view of things; cf. rose-coloured adj. 3.
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1853 C. Reade Peg Woffington vi. 135 ‘This day, in particular, is a happy one,’ added the rose colourist.
1870 T. Tilton Sanctum Sanctorum 231 He was no flatterer of his parliamentary peers—no rose-colorist of the political situation—no eulogist of human nature.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1382