Standard Lemma guide

redd

name · noun · verb · 12 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɹɛd/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: red
  • homophone: read
  • CMU ARPABET: R EH1 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A surname.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A spawning nest made by a fish.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To free from entanglement.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To free from embarrassment.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To fix boundaries.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To comb hair.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To separate combatants.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To settle, usually a quarrel.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

verb

Meaning 9

To tidy up, clear away.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

verb

Meaning 10

To clean, tidy up, to put in order.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Pennsylvania, dialectal, obsolete

Examples

  • I've got to redd the place before your mother gets back.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

verb

Meaning 11

simple past and past participle of rede

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, form-of, obsolete, participle, past

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

verb

Meaning 12

simple past and past participle of read

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dialectal, form-of, obsolete, participle, past

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Origin obscure, possibly from the act of the fish scooping, clearing out a spawning place, see redd above.

Fusion of Middle English reden (“to clean up, to clear”) and redden (“to save, rescue, deliver, rid, free, clear”). The former is from Old English ġerǣdan (“to put in order, arrange, prepare”), from Proto-West Germanic *garaidijan, from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną (“to arrange”); the latter, from Old English hreddan (“to save, deliver, recover, rescue”), from Proto-West Germanic *hraddjan, from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną. More at rid and ready. The Scottish and Northern English senses (especially 3.5 “tidy up, clear away”) are likely from Old Norse ryðja (“to clear, free, empty”), from Proto-Germanic *rudjaną, having conflated with the native word reden (see above); if so, that would make them related to Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rydde (“to clear, tidy”). The Pennsylvania (Dutch English) sense is from Middle Low German redden, cognate with Dutch redden (“to save, rescue”), both ultimately also from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną (“to loosen, set free, save”). The meaning is clearly historically conflated and related to the native English word, however their exact origin and relationship are unclear.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.