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dye

Pronunciation: /dʌɪ/

Translate dye | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of dye

noun

[mass noun]
  • a natural or synthetic substance used to add a colour to or change the colour of something:blonde hair dye [count noun]:a black dye

verb (dyes, dyeing, dyed)

[with object]
  • add a colour to or change the colour of (something) by soaking it in a solution impregnated with a dye: [with complement]:I dyed my hair blonde (as adjective dyed)dyed black hair
  • [no object] take colour well or badly during the dyeing process:it’s good material—it should dye well

Phrases

dyed in the wool

unchanging in a particular belief or opinion; inveterate:she’s a true blue dyed-in-the-wool Conservative
[with allusion to the fact that yarn was dyed in the raw state, producing a more even and permanent colour]

Derivatives

dyeable

adjective

Origin:

Old English dēag (noun), dēagian (verb). The noun is not recorded from Old English to the late 16th century, when it was re-formed from the verb

Spelling rule

Verbs ending in -oe, -ee, and -ye keep the final -e when adding -ing: (dyes, dyeing, dyed).

dye in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of dye in the US English dictionary