Definition of "ruddle" [rud•dle]

• Red ocherous iron ore, used in dyeing and marking. (noun)
• To dye or mark with or as if with red ocher: ruddle sheep. (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.

• "There are those who think that remodelled waists and new caps had better be kept to the towns; but such people, if they would follow out their own argument, would wish to see plough-boys painted with ruddle and milkmaids covered with skins."
• "It was extracted from ruddle (red ochre) and limonite"
• ""Your worship," replied Sancho, "had better mark it with ruddle, like the inscriptions on the walls of class rooms, that those who see it may see it plain.""