mazarine

See also: Mazarine

English

Etymology 1

Perhaps from the name either of Cardinal Mazarin or of the Duchesse de Mazarin, but the Oxford English Dictionary states that evidence is wanting and that it is not in French dictionaries.

Noun

mazarine (countable and uncountable, plural mazarines)

1. A dark blue colour.

   mazarine:  

Adjective

mazarine (not comparable)

1. Of a dark blue colour.

See also

• (blues) blue; Alice blue, aqua, aquamarine, azure, baby blue, beryl, bice, bice blue, blue green, blue violet, blueberry, cadet blue, Cambridge blue, cerulean, cobalt blue, Copenhagen blue, cornflower, cornflower blue, cyan, dark blue, Dodger blue, duck-egg blue, eggshell blue, electric blue, gentian blue, ice blue, lapis lazuli, light blue, lovat, mazarine, midnight blue, navy, Nile blue, Oxford blue, peacock blue, petrol blue, powder blue, Prussian blue, robin's-egg blue, royal blue, sapphire, saxe blue, slate blue, sky blue, teal, turquoise, ultramarine, Wedgwood blue, zaffre ^{(Category: en:Blues)}

Etymology 2

Of obscure history. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that “Phillips 1706 mentions a phrase à la mazarine (not given by Fr[ench] lexicographers), used to designate a particular mode of dressing fowls, and possibly f[rom] the name of Cardinal Mazarin (died 1662) prime minister of France, or of the Duchesse de Mazarin, who died at Chelsea in 1699.”

Noun

mazarine (plural mazarines)

1. A forcemeat entrée.
   • 1846, Charles Elmé Francatelli, The Modern Cook, page 243:

     An hour before dinnertime, steam the mazarine in the usual way, and when done, turn it out of the mould on its dish […]

Etymology 3

Perhaps a corruption of mezzanine.

Noun

mazarine (plural mazarines)

1. The platform beneath the stage in a large theater.

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary