redded or redd; redding
chiefly dialectal
: to set in order
—usually used with up or out
chiefly dialectal
: to make things tidy
—usually used with up
: the spawning ground or nest of various fishes
Examples of redd in a Sentence
Verb
it's time to redd up the garage and get rid of a lot of the junk we've accumulated
Recent Examples on the Web
Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 14 Mar. 2024
The worst spawning year was 2008-09, when only 26 redds were counted in the watershed.
—Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, 17 Jan. 2020
The female was first spotted carving a redd in front of one of my neighbors’ houses.
—Patrick Symmes, Harper's magazine, 28 Oct. 2019
Then the game is afoot: In their waning days, as males battle for dominance, females excavate a redd, a depression in the gravel riverbed.
—Jim Robbins, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2019
In 2015 and then again in 2017, a single, lonely salmon redd, or nest, was spotted in the gravel.
—Caroline Lester, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2019
In autumn 2014, for the first time in about 150 years, biologists discovered salmon redds, areas where the fish used their tails to dig holes in the gravel where eggs were laid, in the Huntington River near Richmond.
—Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2017
Last fall, a single chinook salmon redd was spotted some 36 miles upriver near Godkin Creek.
—Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times, 3 July 2017
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Why: Rainbows spawn in the spring as soon as the water temperature breaks 40 degrees, often making redds in the riffles above pools.
—Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 14 Mar. 2024
The worst spawning year was 2008-09, when only 26 redds were counted in the watershed.
—Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, 17 Jan. 2020
The female was first spotted carving a redd in front of one of my neighbors’ houses.
—Patrick Symmes, Harper's magazine, 28 Oct. 2019
Then the game is afoot: In their waning days, as males battle for dominance, females excavate a redd, a depression in the gravel riverbed.
—Jim Robbins, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2019
In 2015 and then again in 2017, a single, lonely salmon redd, or nest, was spotted in the gravel.
—Caroline Lester, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2019
In autumn 2014, for the first time in about 150 years, biologists discovered salmon redds, areas where the fish used their tails to dig holes in the gravel where eggs were laid, in the Huntington River near Richmond.
—Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2017
Last fall, a single chinook salmon redd was spotted some 36 miles upriver near Godkin Creek.
—Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times, 3 July 2017
Cite this Entry
“Redd.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redd. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share