Colour up
Meaning
To blush or turn red in the face.
Origin
It's not an especially old phrase and isn't seen in print until 1836, in Frederick Marryat's Japhet in Search of a Father:
"Her ladyship coloured up with rage."
The verb colour was used earlier, as in this example from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, 1755:
"To colour, to blush. A low word, only used in conversation."
Other Links:
Close quarters
Coin a phrase
