azure

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to color blue

   Morning azured the village.

2. 2
   noun

   The clear blue colour of the sky; also, a pigment or dye of this colour.

   In robes of azure.

3. 3
   noun

   A blue colour on a coat of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.

   Berington of Chester (on the authority of Harleian manuscript No. 1535) is said to bear a plain shield of azure. Personally I doubt this coat of arms […].

4. 4
   noun

   The unclouded sky; the blue vault above.

   Not like those steps / On heaven's azure.

From Middle English asure, from Old French azur, derived from Arabic لَازَوَرْد (lāzaward, “lapis lazuli”), dropping the l as if it were equivalent to the French article l'. The Arabic is from Classical Persian لاجورد (lājward, “lapis lazuli”), from the region of Lajward in Badakhshan. Compare with Italian azzurro and Spanish azul.

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