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.
Wikipedia
Tyrian purple ( Greek, , porphyra, ), also known as Tyrian red, royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a bromine-containing reddish- purple natural dye. It is a secretion produced by several species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, rock snails originally known by the name Murex.
Usage examples of "tyrian purple".
I received him in one of the private chambers, more intimate than the audience hall, though no less splendid, since I had added the draperies of Tyrian purple and richly-coloured carpets I had purchased in Palestine.
The plumage of the bird was Tyrian purple, and his beak was like a mighty pick-ax of pale bronze that darkened greenly toward the point, and he clutched the perch with iron talons that were longer than the mailed fingers of a warrior.
There, in thick Tyrian purple feltthe felt from Pridden and the dye from Ioudeiarested a silver-and-glass, palm-sized flat object, a second slightly smaller object and something saddle-shaped with protruding handles.
A stunning twenty-foot-wide semi-dome crowns the apse, with a vaulted ceiling, stuccoed, white ribs picked out in regal hues- crimson, Tyrian purple, richest blues.
A Parthian noble, gorgeous in bright Tyrian purple, threw himself bodily over the head of some of his countrymen to get at this mad Roman.
He blinked when Ginny and Svartalf came in, and turned a beautiful Tyrian purple as I followed in the full glory of mink coat and stubbly chin.