diff -r 7466abd0ea3d Lib/idlelib/ColorDelegator.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/ColorDelegator.py	Thu Dec 18 12:29:53 2014 +0100
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/ColorDelegator.py	Thu Dec 18 23:48:11 2014 -0500
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
             "TODO": {'background':None,'foreground':None},
             "ERROR": idleConf.GetHighlight(theme, "error"),
             # The following is used by ReplaceDialog:
-            "hit": idleConf.GetHighlight(theme, "hit"),
+            #"hit": idleConf.GetHighlight(theme, "hit"),
             }
 
         if DEBUG: print('tagdefs',self.tagdefs)
diff -r 7466abd0ea3d Lib/idlelib/SearchDialogBase.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/SearchDialogBase.py	Thu Dec 18 12:29:53 2014 +0100
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/SearchDialogBase.py	Thu Dec 18 23:48:11 2014 -0500
@@ -2,6 +2,21 @@
 
 from tkinter import (Toplevel, Frame, Entry, Label, Button,
                      Checkbutton, Radiobutton)
+from idlelib.configHandler import idleConf
+
+def _hit_cnf(text):
+    "Configure text Text widget with search 'hit' tag."
+    # Imitate code in ColorDelator.LoadTagDefs, config_colors.
+    # Place here so Output Window search hits get visibly tagged.
+    try:
+        theme = idleConf.GetOption('main','Theme','name')
+        hit_cnf = idleConf.GetHighlight(theme, 'hit')
+        if hit_cnf:
+            text.tag_config('hit', **hit_cnf)
+            text.tag_raise('hit')
+    except AttributeError: pass
+    # text passes string to .open and here, should change
+
 
 class SearchDialogBase:
     '''Create most of a 3 or 4 row, 3 column search dialog.
@@ -44,9 +59,12 @@
         self.engine = engine
         self.top = None
 
+
+
     def open(self, text, searchphrase=None):
         "Make dialog visible on top of others and ready to use."
         self.text = text
+        _hit_cnf(text)
         if not self.top:
             self.create_widgets()
         else: