Etymology: < blush v.: compare Dutch blos.

Etymology: Evidently related to a series of words found in Old Norse and Low German, but not known in Old High German or Gothic, pointing back to a stem *blūsi- from verbal root *blūs- in sense of ‘burn, glow, be red’. Compare Old English *blysian in ablisian to blush, ablysung , ablysgung ‘redness of confusion, shame’, with Middle Dutch blōzen , blözen (from earlier bleuzen ), Dutch blozen to blush, blos (formerly bleus ) blush, Middle Low German blosen , bloschen ; also Old English blysa weak masculine, blysige weak feminine, Old Norse blys neuter ‘torch’ (Swedish bloss torch, blossa to blaze, Danish blus torch, blusse to blaze, to blush), Low German blüse flame, blüsen to set on fire, bleusteren to inflame, glow, become red. The nearest relatives of Middle English blusche , blosche , blysche , are apparently Middle Low German bloschen , Low German blüsken ( Brem. Wb. I. 105): and its antecedent form is perhaps to be found in Old English blyscan , bliscan ‘rutilare’ (in the Aldhelm Glosses, Mone Q. u. F. 355): but its comparatively late appearance in Middle English, apparently first in the north, its various vowel-forms, and the doubtful relations of the senses, especially sense 2, all combine to leave the history of the word very obscure. Old English blyscan, bliscan, has also been conjectured to be for *blicsian, from root *blik- to shine, in which case it would not be related to the blūsi- words, nor to Middle English blusche. (The Danish deponent blues to blush, may also be compared.)