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Definition of "cudbear" []

  • A purplish-red dye derived from certain lichens. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "cudbear" in a sentence
  • "Various species of _Lecanora_, particularly _L. tartarea_, known as cudbear, are used in dyeing woollen yarn."
  • "His technique improved the stability of the popular but fragile violets and purples this lichen produced. 1 Gordon, who was a merchant, and his brother, a coppersmith, formed a partnership to sell cudbear, supplying printers and dyers throughout Britain."
  • "This strategy parallels our understanding of the production of colors in the workshop, where access to materials and skills lead to results with specific qualities — cudbear, for example, or Viquesnel's carmine, or the Spanish yellow the London colormaking firm Louis Berger made exclusively for the London-based artist's colorman James Newman. 9 This strategy recognizes the skill of the artisan as well."