ruddy

From Middle English ruddy, rody, rudi, from Old English rudiġ (“reddish; ruddy”), from rudu (“redness”), equivalent to rud (“redness”) +‎ -y. Compare Icelandic roði (“redness”).

The British slang sense expressing irritation is presumably a euphemism for bloody.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌdi/

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• Rhymes: -ʌdi

ruddy (comparative ruddier, superlative ruddiest)

1. Reddish in color, especially of the face, fire, or sky.
2. (Britain, slang, not comparable) A mild intensifier, expressing irritation.
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “XVIII and XX”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     “Of all the damn silly fatheaded things!” she vociferated, if that's the word. “With a million ruddy names to choose from, these ruddy Creams call one ruddy son Wilbert and the other ruddy son Wilfred, and both these ruddy sons are known as Willie. Just going out of their way to mislead the innocent bystander. You'd think people would have more consideration.”

   • 1999, J. K. Rowling, chapter 2, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury:

     I shall monitor your behaviour carefully during Marge’s visit. If, at the end of it, you’ve toed the line and kept to the story, I’ll sign your ruddy form.

• (reddish in color): rosy
• (intensifier): bally, bleeding, blimming, bloody, blooming
• See also Thesaurus:damned

• rudden (to become ruddy)

ruddy (not comparable)

1. (Britain, slang) A mild intensifier, expressing irritation.
   • 2017, June Francis, When the Clouds Go Rolling By

     'You're not ruddy going anywhere,' he said, slamming the door behind him.

ruddy (plural ruddies)

1. (informal) A ruddy duck.
   • 2007 November 4, Deborah Baldwin, “Close to Nature, and the Airport”, in New York Times‎:

     In winter, snow geese land at West Pond, a Robert Moses legacy that ought to be called Duck Soup: at this time of year look for ruddies, greater scaups, Northern pintails, American widgeons and gadwalls.

2. (informal) A ruddy ground dove.
   • 1987, Jürgen Nicolai, A Complete Introduction to Finches, Tfh Publications Incorporated (→ISBN), page 89:

     Ground doves — two ruddies are shown here — are so called because they feed on the ground.

   • 1994, Birding, page 298:

     Understandably, birders in the U.S. are advised to carefully distinguish Ruddies from the usually more-expected Common Ground-Doves [...]. (Brightly-colored, pinkish adult male Common Ground-Doves have been misidentified as male Ruddies on several occasions, however.) Unless the fortunate birder happens upon a Ruddy Ground-Dove amongst a flock of sparrows, it will often be necessary to sort through innumerable Inca Doves.

   • 2005, Richard Cachor Taylor, A Birder's Guide to Southeastern Arizona, page 237:

     Common Ground-Dove — Fairly common permanent resident of better-watered valleys at lower elevations. Avoids town [...] Ironically, Ruddies often ignore the little flocks of closely related Commons, and choose to associate with Inca Doves.

   • 2008, Jim Burns, Jim Burns' Arizona Birds: From the Backyard to the Backwoods, University of Arizona Press (→ISBN), page 28:

     Out-of-state birders seeking Ruddy Ground Doves should be aware of two things. Ruddies associate much more frequently with Inca Doves than with Common Ground Doves. In fact, in eleven personal sightings of this species in Arizona, I have never seen a Ruddy with a Common nor has anyone else I know. [...] Perhaps this is a slow invasion, and forty years hence Ruddies will be so common ...

ruddy (third-person singular simple present ruddies, present participle ruddying, simple past and past participle ruddied)

1. (transitive) To make reddish in colour.

   The sunset ruddied our faces.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermillion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine ^{(Category: en:Reds)}