Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
verb (used with object), redd or redd·ed, redd·ing. Northern and Midland U.S.
- to put in order; tidy: to redd a room for company.
- to clear: to redd the way.
noun
- the spawning area or nest of trout or salmon.
verb redds, redding, redd or redded
- (tr often foll by up) to bring order to; tidy (up)
noun
- the act or an instance of redding
noun
- a hollow in sand or gravel on a river bed, scooped out as a spawning place by salmon, trout, or other fish
early 15c., “to clear” (a space, etc.), from Old English hreddan “to save, free from, deliver, recover, rescue,” from Proto-Germanic *hradjan. Sense evolution tended to merge with unrelated rid. Also possibly influenced by Old English rædan “to arrange,” related to Old English geræde, source of ready (adj.).
A dialect word in Scotland and northern England, where it has had senses of “to fix” (boundaries), “to comb” (hair), “to separate” (combatants), “to settle” (a quarrel). The exception to the limited use is the meaning “to put in order, to make neat or trim” (1718), especially in redd up, which is in general use in England and the U.S. Use of the same phrase, in the same sense, in Pennsylvania Dutch may be from cognate Low German and Dutch redden, obviously connected historically to the English word, “but the origin and relationship of the forms is not clear” [OED].