ruby

noun8

1. •
   a valuable red stone that light can pass through, often used in rings

   • They respond instantly to the faintest rustling in the covert of a sheaf of Ulysses S. Grants, or the homely, rustic tinkle of a wheelbarrow full of rubies being jounced along over a nightclub floor. — 1957
2. •
   A deep red colour.

   • When now I thinke you can behold such sights, / And keepe the naturall Rubie of your Cheekes, / When mine is blanch'd with feare. — 1606
3. •
   The tincture red or gules.

   • The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. [...] Checkie Topaz and Saphire, a Fesse within a Bordure Ruby, by the Name of Clifford. — 1726
4. •
   A pronunciation guide written above or beside Chinese characters.
5. •
   A ruby hummer, a South American hummingbird, Clytolaema rubricauda.
6. •
   A red bird-of-paradise, Paradisaea rubra.
7. •
   (UK, old-fashioned) The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5½-point.
8. •
   (no longer used) A red spinel.

adjective1

1. •
   Of a deep, red color; ruby-red.

verb1

1. •
   (literary) To make red; to redden.

   • With sanguine drops the walls are rubied — 1725

noun1

1. •
   (slang) A curry; ellipsis of Ruby Murray.

   • We're going down the Indian for a Ruby; wanna join us?