Forthright Glide Ruby

Old English forð-riht, straight ahead, direct. Used as a color modifier in Anglo-Saxon-revival contexts for hues that read as honest and unguarded. Forthright red, forthright blue: the saturation is full, the hue is presented without ornamentation or qualification. Sits in the bold-bucket center alongside frank and direct.

Old English glīdan, to-move-smoothly. As a color modifier, glide implies a smooth-and-silent-and-frictionless quality, the visual register of swan-and-skater-glide hand-smooth-and-silent-and-frictionless swan-and-skater-and-soaring-albatross glided-and-smooth-and-silent-and-frictionless surfaces under swan-and-skater-and-soaring-albatross frozen-pond-and-Hyde-Park-Serpentine-and-open-ocean smooth-flight-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to float and hover in usage.

From the Latin ruber — simply, red. The gemstone is a chromium-tinged corundum, harder than anything in nature except diamond, and so saturated that a fine Burmese pigeon's blood ruby at auction outpaces a comparable diamond by weight. The color borrows the gem's confidence: a clear, glassy red without the brown of garnet or the blue of crimson.