The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tyrian \Tyr"i*an\, a. [L. Tyrius, from Tyrus Tyre, Gr. ?.]
Of or pertaining to Tyre or its people.
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Being of the color called Tyrian purple.
The bright-eyed perch with fins of Tyrian dye.
--Pope.Tyrian purple, or Tyrian dye, a celebrated purple dye prepared in ancient Tyre from several mollusks, especially Ianthina, Murex, and Purpura. See the Note under Purple, n., 1, and Purple of mollusca, under Purple, n.
Usage examples of "tyrian dye".
In the Greek language, purple and porphyry are the same word: and as the colors of nature are invariable, we may learn, that a dark deep red was the Tyrian dye which stained the purple of the ancients.
She gave six hundred pieces of silk and linen, of various use and denomination: the silk was painted with the Tyrian dye, and adorned by the labors of the needle.