blushing

Verb

blush (third-person singular simple present blushes, present participle blushing, simple past and past participle blushed)

1. (intransitive) To become red or pink in the face (and sometimes experience an associated feeling of warmth), especially due to shyness, love, shame, excitement, or embarrassment.
   • The love scene made him blush to the roots of his hair / to the tips of his ears.

   Synonyms:

   color, flush, crimson

2. (figuratively, intransitive) To be shy, ashamed, or embarrassed (to do something).
   • While Cato lives, Caesar will blush to see
     Mankind enslaved, and be ashamed of Empire.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 53
3. (intransitive) To become red or pink.
   • The sun of heaven, methought, was loth to set,
     But stayed, and made the western welkin blush,c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
4. (transitive) To suffuse with a blush; to redden; to pinken; to make rosy.
   • [the ghost] with the heart there cools and ne’er returneth
     To blush and beautify the cheek again.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
5. (copulative) To change skin color in the face (to a particular shade).
   • When he saw it, he blushed a beet red.
6. (transitive) To express or make known by blushing.
   • Looking at me with a knowing glare, she blushed her discomfort with the situation.

See all 15 meanings of blush