blushing

[ bluhsh-ing ]

adjective

reddening, as from embarrassment or self-consciousness: All eyes were on the blushing bride—the star of the evening!At the mayor’s request, they serenaded the blushing councilor with a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
feeling or showing embarrassment or self-consciousness: The author plows ahead with a disarmingly blushing work about trying to embrace her queer identity, her marriage, and motherhood simultaneously.

rosy, as the sky, flowers, etc.: This chocolate Valentine cake is delicious—and the blushing raspberry frosting is the perfect pink.

Origin of blushing

First recorded in 1560–70; blush + -ing²

That failure has the reddest state in the nation blushing blue.
Will the GOP Get the Message in Kansas? | Ana Marie Cox | October 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Chuck Todd solemnized his marriage to Meet the Press, NBC News's 67-year-old public affairs program, much like a blushing bride.
Todd Brings Goatee and Game to MTP Debut | Lloyd Grove | September 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Watts does a good, blushing sideways glance and has her flat upper class intonations off to a tee.
Princess Diana Was the Girlfriend From Hell. Why Is This Movie So Boring? | Tina Brown | November 4, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
She was a blushing bride of seventeen, a sad and stoic wife, a loving mother, an embittered chaperone, and a daughter pushed away.
This Week’s Hot Reads: June 5, 2012 | Nicholas Mancusi, Jimmy So | June 6, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Audience members could ask earnest, unselfconscious questions like whether e-books were real books without blushing.
Jaipur Literary Festival Draws Controversy | Nisid Hajari | January 23, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST

Nature seems still to wish to keep the young and blushing girl apart from that connection which entails grave and arduous duties.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness | Florence Hartley
At this poem Mary professed herself delighted; for she was long past blushing at lip service.
God Wills It! | William Stearns Davis
He has often come to ask after you,” she said blushing, “but he is afraid to see you, lest it should do you harm just now.
Julian Home | Dean Frederic W. Farrar
"I have not sent for you for nothing, Oswald," she said, blushing a little as if it were a hard matter she had to speak of.
A Prince of Cornwall | Charles W. Whistler
Another titter through the court-room, the colonel and the squire blushing redder than ever.
The Rival Campers | Ruel Perley Smith

Browse