Definition of "kermes" []

• A red dyestuff once prepared from the dried bodies of various female scale insects of the genus Kermes. (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.

• "Carthamus tinctorius; and by the Hebrews from the Coccus ilicis, an insect which infests oak trees, called kermes by the"
• "The Polifli berries, called kermes, are found adhering to the leaves, ftem, and branches, of a kind of ever-green of the oak genus; and are always gathered in May, before they are fully ripjC."
• "Had she sold the kermes thread and bought madder and kept the difference?"