Definition of "cochineal" [coch•i•neal]

• A red dye made of the dried and pulverized bodies of female cochineal insects. It is used as a biological stain and as an indicator in acid-base titrations. (noun)
• A vivid red. (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.

• "They'd been growing something called cochineal, which is a-- it was a kind of a-- a bug that grows on"
• "Or, more properly, the stuff we call cochineal is a chemical extract of carminic acid from the bodies of squished female scale insects."
• "Red beverages -- including Campari and Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice -- are often colored with cochineal, aka carmine, a dye derived from insects."