kermes (plural kermes)
(countable) Any of several insects of the genus Kermes.
(uncountable) A crimson dye made from the crushed bodies of these insects.
• Remkes
Source: Wiktionary
Ker"mes, n. Etym: [Ar. & Per. girmiz. See Crimson, and cf. Alkermes.]
1. (Zoöl.)
Definition: The dried bodies of the females of a scale insect (Coccus ilicis), allied to the cochineal insect, and found on several species of oak near the Mediterranean. They are round, about the size of a pea, contain coloring matter analogous to carmine, and are used in dyeing. They were anciently thought to be of a vegetable nature, and were used in medicine. [Written also chermes.]
2. (Bot.)
Definition: A small European evergreen oak (Quercus coccifera) on which the kermes insect (Coccus ilicis) feeds. J. Smith (Dict. Econ. Plants). Kermes mineral. (a) (Old Chem.) An artificial amorphous trisulphide of antimony; -- so called on account of its red color. (b) (Med. Chem.) A compound of the trioxide and trisulphide of antimony, used in medicine. This substance occurs in nature as the mineral kermesite.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
31 March 2025
(adjective) done or made using whatever is available; “crossed the river on improvised bridges”; “the survivors used jury-rigged fishing gear”; “the rock served as a makeshift hammer”
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
