Definition of "incarnadine" [in•car•na•dine]

• Of a fleshy pink color. (adjective)
• Blood-red. (adjective)
• To make incarnadine, especially to redden. (verb-transitive)

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.

• "I've had some success in getting them past it when it's a matter of language by saying "English has a huge vocabulary, and the author/poet/whatever could have chosen another word instead of this one - so don't just tell me that Shakespeare uses 'incarnadine' to mean 'red' here, but tell me why 'incarnadine' rather than 'red' makes a difference.""
• "But then I get long explanations about how Shx uses "incarnadine" instead of "red" because he's a really, really good writer."
• "A later attempt at Paris to "incarnadine" the neighborhood of the Champs de Mars, and "round up" a number of boulevardiers, met with a more disastrous result, -- the gleam of steel from mounted gendarmes, and a mandate to his employers."