redd

1 of 2

verb

redded or redd; redding

transitive verb

chiefly dialectal : to set in order
usually used with up or out

intransitive verb

chiefly dialectal : to make things tidy
usually used with up

redd

2 of 2

noun

: the spawning ground or nest of various fishes

Examples of redd in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Why: Rainbows spawn in the spring as soon as the water temperature breaks 40 degrees, often making redds in the riffles above pools. Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 14 Mar. 2024 The worst spawning year was 2008-09, when only 26 redds were counted in the watershed. Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, 17 Jan. 2020 The female was first spotted carving a redd in front of one of my neighbors’ houses. Patrick Symmes, Harper's magazine, 28 Oct. 2019 Then the game is afoot: In their waning days, as males battle for dominance, females excavate a redd, a depression in the gravel riverbed. Jim Robbins, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2019 In 2015 and then again in 2017, a single, lonely salmon redd, or nest, was spotted in the gravel. Caroline Lester, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2019 In autumn 2014, for the first time in about 150 years, biologists discovered salmon redds, areas where the fish used their tails to dig holes in the gravel where eggs were laid, in the Huntington River near Richmond. Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2017 Last fall, a single chinook salmon redd was spotted some 36 miles upriver near Godkin Creek. Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times, 3 July 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'redd.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English (Scots), to clear, perhaps alteration of ridden — more at rid

Noun

origin unknown

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Noun

1808, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of redd was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near redd

Cite this Entry

“Redd.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redd. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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