recusancy 
recusancy (rek'u-zan-si), n. [As recusance (see 
-cy).~] 1. Obstinate refusal or opposition. 
It is not a recusancy, for I would come ; but it is an ex- 
communication, I must not. 
Donne, Devotions, III., Expostulation. 
If anyone, or two, or ten, or twenty members of con- 
gress should manifest symptoms of recusancy, , . . the 
weird sisters of ambitious hearts shall play before their 
eyes images of foreign missions, and departments, and 
benches of justice. It. Choate, Addresses, p. 339. 
2. The state of being a recusant. 
The papists made no scruple of coming to our churches ; 
recusancy was not then so much as a chrisom, not an em- 
bryo. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 98. 
There is also an inferior species of recusancy (refusing 
to make the declaration against popery enjoined by stat- 
ute 80 Car. II. st. 2, when tendered by the proper magis- 
trate). Blackstone, Com., IV. iv. 
We shall see that mere recusancy was first made punish- 
able, later on in the reign, by the Second Act for Unifor- 
mity of Edward. 
K. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xv., note. 
3. The tenets of the recusants, or adherence to 
those tenets. 
The penalties of recusancy were particularly hard upon 
women, who . . . adhered longer to the old religion than 
the other sex. Hattam, Const. Hist., viL, note. 
recusant (rek'u-zant or re-ku'zant), a. and n. 
[< OP. recusant, F. recusant = Sp. Pg. recusante 
= It. ricusante, < L. recusan(t-)s, ppr. of recu- 
sare, reject, object: see recuse.'} I. a. Obsti- 
nate in refusal; specifically, in Eng. hist., re- 
fusing to attend divine service in Anglican 
churches, or to acknowledge the ecclesiastical 
supremacy of the crown. 
No recusant lord might have a vote in passing that act. 
Clarendon. 
II. . 1. One obstinate in refusing; one who 
will not conform to general opinion or practice. 
The last rebellious recusants among the family of na- 
tions. De Quincey. 
He that would not take the oath should be executed, 
though unarmed; and the recusants were shot on the 
roads, ... or as they stood in prayer. 
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., II. 411. 
2. Specifically, in Eng. hist., one who refused 
to attend divine worship in Anglican churches, 
or to acknowledge the ecclesiastical supremacy 
of the crown. Heavy penalties were inflicted on such 
persons, but they pressed far more lightly on the simple 
recusant or nonconformist than on the Roman Catholic 
recusant, the chief object being to secure national unity 
and loyalty to the crown, in opposition to papal excom- 
munications, which declared British subjects absolved 
from their allegiance (as in 1570), and to plots against the 
government. The name recusant, though legally applied 
to both Protestants and Roman Catholics, was in general 
given especially to the latter. 
As well those restrained ... as generally all the pa- 
pists in this kingdom, not any of them did refuse to come 
to our church, and yield their formal obedience to the 
laws established. And thus they all continued, not any 
one refusing to come to our churches, during the first ten 
years of her Majesty's [Queen Elizabeth's) government. 
And in the beginning of the eleventh year of her reign 
Cornwallis, Bedingfleld, and Silyarde were the first recu- 
sants, they absolutely refusing to come to our churches. 
And until they in that sort began, the name of recusant 
was never heard of amongst us. 
Sir Edward Coke [in 1607], in Blunt, Annotated Book of 
[Common Prayer, p. 24. 
recusation (rek-u-za'shon), n. [< OF. realisation, 
F. recusation = Pr. recusation = Sp. reousacion 
= Pg. recusac.Ho = It. ricusazione, < L. recusa- 
tio(n-), a declining, refusal, objection, protest, 
also nausea, rejection, < recusare, pp. recusatus, 
object, decline, reject: see recuse.] In laic, 
the interposition of an objection or challenge 
for cause to a judge or arbitrator, or to an ex- 
pert appointed by a court ; also, the objection 
or challenge so presented. 
He [Bonner], to deface his Authority (as he thought) 
did also then exhibit in writing a Recusation of the Sec- 
retaries Judgment against him. 
Foxe, Martyrs, II. 35, an. 1549. 
recusative (re-ku'za-tiv), a. [< recuse + -ative.'] 
Tending or prone to recuse or refuse ; refusing- 
denying; negative. [Rare.] 
The act of the will produces material and permanent 
events ; it is acquisitive and effective, or recusative and 
destructive, otherwise than it is in any other faculties 
Jer. Taylor, Rule of Conscience, IV. i. 1. 
recuse (re-kuz'), v. t.; pret. and pp. recused, 
ppr. refusing. [< OF. rceuser, F. recuser = Pr. 
Sp. Pg. recusar = It. ricusare, < L. recusare, 
object, decline, reject, refuse, protest against, 
plead in defense, < re-, back, + causa, a cause : 
see cause. Cf. accuse.'] To refuse; reject; 
specifically, in law, to reject or challenge (a 
judge or juror) as disqualified to act. 
Yet she [the queen] nevertheless persisting in her for- 
mer wilfulness and in her Appeal, which also by the said 
Judges was likewise realised, incontinently departed out of 
the Court. Bp. Burnet, Records, I. ii., No. 28. 
5016 
A judge may proceed notwithstanding my appeal, un- 
less I recuse him as a suspected judge. Ayli/e, Parergon. 
recussion (re-kush'on), . [< L. recutere, pp. re- 
cussus, strike back, beat back, etc., < re-, back, 
+ quatere, strike, shake: see quash 1 . Cf. con- 
cussion, discussion, percussion."] The act of beat- 
ing back. Bailey. 
red 1 (red), a. and n. [< ME. red, reed, rede, ear- 
lier read, read, < AS. redd = OS. rod = OFries. 
rdd = D. rood = MLG. rot, LG. rod = OHG. 
MHG. rot, G. rot, roth = Icel. rauthr = Sw. Dan. 
rod = Goth, rauths (raud-), red; cf. AS. reod 
(= Icel. rjodlir), red, rud, rudu, redness (see 
rud) ; < AS. reodan, make red, kill, = Icel. rjo- 
dha (pret. raudh), redden (see raJl ; v.); akin to 
L. ruber (rubr-, for ruthr-, = Gr. tpv8p6f), red, 
rufus, red, rubidtis, dark-red, rubere, turn red, 
blush, ritbicundus, red, reddish, russus, reddish, 
rutilus, reddish, robigo. rust, etc. ; Gr. epv6p6f, 
red, Ipv6of, rediiess, enevfieiv, redden; Ir. Gael. 
ruadh = W. rhudd, red; OBulg. rudru, red, ru- 
dieti, blush, etc., ruda, metal, etc., = Bohem. 
Pol. ruda, ore, rust, mildew, etc., = Russ. ruda, 
ore, mineral, a mine, blood, etc. ; Lith. rudas, 
rusvas, red-brown, raudas, raudonas, red, raudd, 
red color; Skt. rudhira, red, blood, rohita (for 
'rodhita), red. From the E. root, besides red- 
den, reddish, etc., are derived rud, ruddle, rud- 
dock, ruddy, rust, etc. ; from the L. are derived 
E. ruby, rubescent, rubric, rubicund, rufous, rus- 
set, rutilate, rutilant; from the Gr. are Erythreea, 
erythric, etc. Bed, like lead 2 (led), with which 
it is phonetically parallel, had in ME. a long 
vowel, which has become shortened. The long 
vowel remains, however, in the surnames Head, 
Reade, Heed, Seid, which represent old forms 
of the adj., and the existence of which as sur- 
names explains the almost total absence of the 
expected surname Red, parallel to Black, Brown, 
White, etc. As a noun, cf. ME. rede, redness, = 
OHG. roti, G. rotlie, redness, red ; from the adj.] 
1. a. 1. Of a bright, warm color resembling 
that of blood or of the highest part of the pri- 
mary rainbow. See II. 
Dropes rede as ripe cherrees, 
That fro his flesshe gan lave. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. 9,.\ p. 217. 
The ladye blushed scarlette redde, 
And fette a gentill sighe. 
Sir Cauline (Child's Ballads, III. 181). 
Your colour, I warrant you, is as red as any rose. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 28. 
2. Ultra-radical; revolutionary; violent: from 
the use of a red flag as a revolutionary em- 
blem: as, a red republican. 
Ev'n tho' thrice again 
The red fool-fury of the Seine 
Should pile her barricades with dead. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, cxxvii. 
The Social Democratic Federation has degenerated into 
a red Anarchist organization. The Nation, XLVII. 450. 
Black-breasted red game. See gamei. Neitherflesh 
fowl, nor good red herring, nondescript ; lacking dis- 
tinctive character; neither one thing nor another : same as 
neither hay nor grass. Order Of the Red Eagle. See 
eagle. Red adder. S&me as copperhead, l.ISarilett. 
Red admiral See admiral, 5. Red algae, red or pur- 
plish seaweeds constituting the class Floridese. Also 
known as the Rhodosporeie and Rhodomermefe. See Rho- 
dospermea and Algee. Red ant, a small ant of a red color, 
as Pharaoh's ant and some similar species. See cut under 
Monomorium. Red antimony. Same as kermesite. 
Red arsenic. Same as realgar. Red ash, band-fish 
bark,bay. Seethenouns. Red bat, the common New 
York bat, Lasiurusor Atalaphanoveboracensis, a small red- 
dish bat of wide distribution In North America, and one of 
the most abundant in eastern parts of the United States. 
It is rather larger than the brown bat, VesperKKo gubula- 
tus, and easily recognized by its coloration and the dense- 
ly furry interfemoral membrane. Red bead-vine. See 
Rhynchoria. Red bear-cat, the panda or wah. See cut 
under panda. Red beds, a conspicuous formation in the 
Rocky Mountains ; a series of deep-red, sandy, gypsiferous 
strata lying upon the Carboniferous, and generally consid- 
ered to be of Triassic age. They are often eroded Into fan- 
tastic and picturesque forms. Red beech, beefwood 
birch, bird's-eye. See the nouns. Red body, in ichth., 
an aggregation of capillaries forming a gland-like body. 
These tufts of radiating capillaries are much localized 
at various places, as in Esocidse ; or the tufts are so aggre- 
gated as to form gland-like red bodies, the capillaries re- 
uniting into larger vessels, which again ramify freely 
round the border of the red body. 
Giinther, Study of Fishes, p. 147. 
Red Book, (a) A book containing the names of all the 
persons in the service of the state, (b) The Peerage. See 
peerage, 3. [Colloq.] 
I hadn't a word to say against a woman who was inti- 
mate with every duchess in the Red Book. 
Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xxv. 
Red Book of the Exchequer, an ancient record in which 
are registered the names of all the holders of lands per 
baroniam in the time of Henry II. Red buckeye a 
shrub or low tree, ^Esculus Pavia, of the southern United 
States. Its flowers are red, and showy in cultivation. Red 
button. Same as red rosette. Red cabbage, a strongly 
red 
marked variety of the common cabbage, with purple or 
reddish-brown heads, used chiefly for pickling. Red C6- 
dar. See cedar, 2. Red cent, a copper cent. The cop- 
per cent is no longer current, but the phrabe red cent re- 
mains in use as a mere emphatic form of cent : as, it is not 
worth a red cent. [Colloq., U. S.] 
Every thing in New Orleans sells by dimes, bits, and 
picayunes; and as for topper money, I have not seen the 
ttrst red cent. B. Taylor, in S. Y. Tribune. (Bartlett.) 
Red chalk, duckweed, copper, coral. See the nouns. 
Red cock, an incendiary fire. [Scottish Gipsies' slang.] 
Well see if the red cock craw not in his bonnie barn yard 
ae morning before day dawning. Scott, Guy ilaunering. 
Red crab. See crabi, 1. Red Crag, the local name of a 
division of the Pliocene in England. It is a dull-red iron- 
stained shelly sandstone of inconsiderable thickness, con- 
taining a large number of fossils molluscan, coralline, 
and mammalian remains among which last are the ele- 
phant, mastodon, rhinoceros, tapir, hog, horse, hyena, and 
stag. Red cross. Seecrossi.and union j'<K*(under union). 
Red crossbill, currant, deal See the nouns Red 
cusk. See red-cusk. Red cypress. See Taxodium. 
Red dace. See red-dace. Red deer, ear, elder. See 
the nouns. Red ensign, in England, the usual British 
flag that is, a plain red nag with the canton filled by the 
union jack. It is used at sea for all British vessels not be- 
longing to the navy, but previous to 1864 was also the spe- 
cial flag of the so-called Red Squadron of the navy. Red 
fever, dengue. Red fir, a name of the Oregon pine, and 
of Abies nobilis and A. magnified of the western United 
States : the last two are trees sometimes 200 feet high, but 
of moderate economic worth. Red flag. SeeflagV. Red 
flamingo, fog, fox, game, gilthead, goose, grouper. 
See the nouns. Red grouse. Same as red game. Red. 
gum. See red-gum. Red gurnard, hand, hat, hawk. 
See the nouns. Red hay, mowburnt hay, in distinc- 
tion from green hay, or hay which has taken a moderate 
heat,andfromvinnyor moldy hay. Hattiu'ell. [Prov.Eng.] 
Red heat, hematite, hepatlzatlon, herring, In- 
dian. See the nouns. Red iodide of mercury oint- 
ment. See ointment. Red iron ore. Seeinro. Red 
ironwood. See Darling plum, under^mHi. Red jas- 
mine, land. See the nouns. Red lane, the throat. See 
tenei,3. [Slang.] Red latticet, lead. linnet. Seethe 
nouns. Red lead ore. Same as crocoite. Red liquor 
lump-flsh, magnetism, mahogany. See the nouns. 
Red man. Same as Red Indian. Red manganese, 
mangrove, maple, marlin, meat. See the nouns. 
Red Marl Series. See moi. Red Men's Act, an act 
of West Virginia (L. 1882, c. 135) prohibiting the carrying 
of dangerous weapons, and providing for the punishment 
of unlawful combinations and conspiracies to injure per- 
sons and property, designated in the act as "Red Men," 
"Regulators,'' "Vigilance Committees," etc. Red milk. 
minnow, mulberry, mullet. See the nouns. Red 
murrain on. Same as plague on. 
A red murrain o' thy jade's tricks ! 
Shak., T. and C., ii. 1. 20. 
Red nucleus, ocher, oil, osier. See the nouns. Red 
orplment. Sameasreo^ar. Red OWL the reddish phase 
of the common gray screech-owl of tne United States, 
Scop* (Megascops) agio, formerly considered a distinct spe- 
cies, now known to be an erythrism. Red OXid Of man- 
ganese. See manganese. Red oxid of mercury oint- 
ment. See ointment. Red pepper. See Capsicum. 
Red perch. Seeperchi. Red pestilence. Sameasred 
Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Home ! 
Shak., Cor., iv. 1. 18. 
Red phalarope. See phalarope. Red pheasant, a tra- 
gopan; a pheasant of the genus Ceriarnis. Red phos- 
phorus. See phosphorus, 2. Red pimpernel. Seepim- 
pernel, 4. Red pine. See pinel. Red plague, a form 
of the plague characterized, according to the physicians 
of the middle ages, by a red spot, boil, or bubo. Compare 
Mack death, under death. 
You taught me language, and my profit on 't 
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you ! 
Shak., Tempest, L 2. 364. 
Red pole, poppy, precipitate. See the nouns. Red 
porphyry. See pelbleware. Red puccoon. See puc- 
com, 1. Red rail. Same as Virginia rail (which see, un- 
der roa4)._Red republican, Ribbon, rosette. See the 
nouns. Red rock-cod. See cod%. Red roncador 
See roncador. Red ruffed grouse. See ruffed grouse, 
under grouse. Red rust. Seerusd. Red sandalwood, 
red sanderswood. See the nouns. Red sandstone 
See sandstone. Red saunders, the sliced or rasped heart- 
wood of Pterocarpus santalinus. It imparts a red color to 
alcohol, ether.and alkaline solutions. It is used for coloring 
alcoholic liquors, and in pharmacy for coloring tinctures. 
Red seaweeds. Same as red olgx. Red silver. See 
proustite and pyrargyrite. Red snapper. See mapper. 
Red snow. See Protococcus. Red softening, a form 
of acute softening of the cerebral substance characterized 
by a red punctiform appearance due to the presence of 
blood. See softening. Red. sword-grass moth, Colo- 
campa vetusta: a British collectors' name. Red tape. 
See tape. Red tiger. Same as cougar. Red tincture 
Same as great elixir (which see, under elixir, 1). Red 
twin-spot carpet-moth, a British geoinetrid moth, Co- 
remia ferrugata. Red venison. See venison. Red vi- 
per. Same as copperhead, 1. Red vitriol. Same as col- 
cothar. Red wind. See wind?. The red chop. See 
the grand chop, under chop*. To fly the red flag. See 
jlyi.To paint the town red. See paint. =Syn. Flash- 
ing, flaming, flery, bloody. 
II. n. 1. A color more or less resembling that 
of blood or the lower end of the spectrum. Red 
is one of the most general color-names, and embraces col- 
ors ranging in hue from rose aniline to scarlet iodide of 
mercury and red lead. A red yellower than vermilion is 
called scarlet ; one much more purple is called crimson. 
A very dark red, if pure or crimson, is called maroon; if 
brownish, chestnut or chocolate. A pale red that is, one of 
low chroma and high luminosity is called a pink, rang- 
ing from rose-pink, or pale crimson, to salmon-pink, or 
pale scarlet. 
