Refine this word faster
Redd
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A spawning nest made by a fish.
"2007, Michael Klesius, Fishes' Riches, National Geographic (March 2007), 32, A female chinook salmon digs her redd, or nest, prior to spawning in Oregon's John Day River."
- 1 To free from entanglement. obsolete
- 2 To clean, tidy up, to put in order. Pennsylvania, transitive
"I've got to redd the place before your mother gets back."
- 3 simple past and past participle of rede form-of, participle, past
- 4 To free from embarrassment. obsolete
- 5 simple past and past participle of read form-of, obsolete, participle, past
"The Works of John Knox, 1841"
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 To fix boundaries. Northern-England, Scotland
- 7 To comb hair. Northern-England, Scotland
- 8 To separate combatants. Northern-England, Scotland
- 9 To settle, usually a quarrel. Northern-England, Scotland
- 10 To tidy up, clear away. Northern-England, Scotland
Etymology
Fusion of Middle English redden (“to save, rescue, deliver, rid, free, clear”), from Old English hreddan (“to save, deliver, recover, rescue”), from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną and Middle English reden (“to clean up, clear”), from Old English ġerǣdan (“to put in order, arrange, prepare”), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną (“to arrange”). More at rid, ready.
From Middle English, from Old Norse ryðja, Middle Low German, compare Dutch redden. In modern use probably actually a back-formation from ready.
Origin obscure, possibly from the act of the fish scooping, clearing out a spawning place, see redd above.
From the archaic verb rede or read.
See also for "redd"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: redd