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redd

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redd

1  [red]
Use redd in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), redd or redd⋅ed, redd⋅ing. Northern and Midland U.S.
1. to put in order; tidy: to redd a room for company.
2. to clear: to redd the way.
Also, red.

Origin:
bef. 900; appar. conflation of 2 words: ME (Scots) reden to clear, clean up (a space, land), OE gerǣdan to put in order (c. MD, MLG rêden, reiden; akin to ready ); and ME (Scots) redden to rid, free, clear, OE hreddan to save, deliver, rescue (c. OFris hredda, G retten)

redd

2  [red]
–noun
the spawning area or nest of trout or salmon.
Origin:
1640–50; orig. uncert.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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redd 1   (rěd)   
tr.v.   redd·ed or redd, redd·ing, redds Chiefly Pennsylvania
To clear: redd the dinner table.
Phrasal Verb(s):
redd upTo tidy: redded up the front room.

[Middle English dialectal redden, to clear an area (influenced by Middle English redden, to rescue, free from), from Old Norse rydhja; see rid.]
The terms redd and redd up came to the American Midlands from the many Scottish immigrants who settled there. Meaning "to clear an area or to make it tidy," redd is still used in Scotland and Northern Ireland; in the United States it is especially common in Pennsylvania as the phrasal verb redd up. The term, which goes back to Old Norse rydhja, can be traced from the 15th century to the present, particularly in dialects of Scotland and the North of England.
redd 2   (rěd)   
n.  A spawning nest made by a fish, especially a salmon or trout.

[Origin unknown.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

redd  (v.)
c.1425, "to clear" (a space, etc.), from O.E. hreddan "to save, to deliver, recover, rescue," from P.Gmc. *hradjan. Sense evolution tended to merge with unrelated rid. Also possibly infl. by O.E. rædan "to arrange," related to O.E. geræde, source of ready. A dialect word in Scotland and northern England, where it has had senses of "to fix" (boundaries), "to comb" (hair), "to separate" (combatants), "to settle" (a quarrel). The exception to the limited use is the meaning "to put in order, to make neat or trim" (1718), especially in redd up, which is in general use in England and the U.S. Use of the same phrase, in the same sense, in Pennsylvania Dutch may be from cognate Low Ger. and Du. redden, obviously connected historically to the Eng. word, "but the origin and relationship of the forms is no clear" [OED].
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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