FromMiddle English vermayle Old French vermeil ( “ vermilion ” ) , fromLatin vermiculus ( “ little worm ” ) , fromvermis ( “ worm ” ) , ultimately in reference toKermes vermilio Doublet ofvermicule
vermeil (comparative morevermeil ,superlative mostvermeil )
( poetic , now rare ) scarlet ,vermilion .1818 John Keats ,Endymion [1] Many and many a verse I hope to write,vermeil rimm’d and white,
( poetic , now rare ) faces ,lips etc.:red ,ruddy , healthy-looking.1603 Michel de Montaigne , chapter 36, inJohn Florio , transl.,The Essayes [ … ] [ … ] Val[ entine] Simmes forEdward Blount [ … ] →OCLC his carriage; demeanor, and venerable behaviour, in a face so young,vermeill , and heart enflaming [ …]
1820 Charles Maturin ,Melmoth the Wanderer :a lip asvermeil as her own. (IV, xxx)
French vermeil work vermeil (plural vermeils
( poetic ) Vermilion ; brightred .1590 Edmund Spenser , “Book III, Canto I”, inThe Faerie Queene. [ … ] [ … ] [John Wolfe ] forWilliam Ponsonbie ,→OCLC The mortall steele stayed not till it was seene / To gore her side; yet was the wound not deepe, / But lightly rased her soft silken skin, / That drops of purple blood thereout did weepe, / Which did her lilly smock with staines ofvermeil steep.
Silver gilt or giltbronze .A liquid composition applied to agilded surface to giveluster to the gold. Inherited fromMiddle French vermeil Old French vermeil Latin vermiculus ( “ little worm ” ) .
vermeil (feminine vermeille masculine plural vermeils feminine plural vermeilles
bright red;vermilion ( of mouth, lips, etc. ) ruby ;cherry rosy vermeil m plural vermeils
vermeil FromOld French vermeil
vermeil m feminine singular vermeille masculine plural vermeils feminine plural vermeilles
vermillion vermeil onDictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)FromVulgar Latin *vermiclus Latin vermiculus ( “ little worm ” ) .
vermeil m oblique and nominative feminine singular vermeile
vermillion 
