rubric

Etymology

From Middle English rubriche, rubrike, from Old French rubrique, from Latin rūbrīca (“red ochre”), the substance used to make red letters, from ruber (“red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-.

noun

1. A heading in a book highlighted in red.
2. A title of a category or a class.
   That would fall under the rubric of things we can ignore for now.
   And in one swoop, the Attorney General conceded to the president nearly unlimited power, just as long as he finds a lawyer willing to stuff his actions into the boundless rubric of “defending the country.” 2008, Chris Dodd, Senator Dodd Speaks in Opposition to FISA Bill on Floor of U.S. Senate
3. (Christianity) The directions for a religious service, formerly printed in red letters.
   All the clergy in England solemnly pledge themselves to observe the rubrics. 1842, Walter Hook, Church Dictionary
4. An established rule or custom; a guideline.
   1847-1848, Thomas De Quincey, "Protestantism", in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine Nay, as a duty, it had no place or rubric in human conceptions before Christianity.
5. (education) A set of scoring criteria for evaluating student work and for giving feedback.
6. A flourish after a signature.
7. Red ochre.

adj

1. Coloured or marked with red; placed in rubrics.
2. Of or relating to the rubric or rubrics; rubrical.

verb

1. (transitive) To adorn with red; to redden.
   That Cavalier who Rubricks his Executions with the Bloud he hath drawn by the instrument of Extortion from the Poor. 1681, Paul Rycaut, The Critick, translation of original by Lorenzo Gracián
2. To organise or classify into rubrics