dye

Etymology 1

From Middle English deie, from Old English dēah, dēag (“color, hue, dye”), from Proto-West Germanic *daugu (“colour, shade”), from *daugan (“to conceal, be dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust, camouflage”). Cognates Cognate with Old High German tougan (“dark, secretive”), tougal (“dark, hidden, covert”), Old English dēagol, dīegle (“dark, hidden, secret”), Old English dohs, dox (“dusky, dark”). See dusk. The verb is from Middle English deien, from Old English dēagian, from the noun. colored with dye. The yarn has been dyed.]]

noun

1. A colourant, especially one that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is applied.
2. Any hue, color, or blee.

verb

1. (transitive) To colour with dye, or as if with dye.
   You look different. Have you had your hair dyed?
   If indeed sharks were inclined to eat people, the world's oceans would be dyed crimson with the blood of millions. 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, page 164

Etymology 2

noun

1. Archaic spelling of die (“a cube used in games of chance”).
   If a dye were marked with one figure or number of spots on four sides, and with another figure or number of spots on the two remaining sides, it would be more probable, that the former would turn up than the latter; 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral., London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 46