Emily Dickinson Lexicon

KERM'ES, n. [Ar. قِرْمِرٌ kirmiran Coccus baphica. Castell.]

In zoology, an obsolete name of the Coccus Ilicis, an insect produced upon the Quercus Ilex, a small species of oak growing in the South of Europe. This body is full of reddish juice, which is used in dyeing red. Hence the word crimson.