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more about black
black |
7 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Black \Black\, a. [OE. blak, AS bl[ae]c; akin to Icel. blakkr dark, swarthy, Sw bl["a]ck ink, Dan. bl[ae]k, OHG. blach, LG & D. blaken to burn with a black smoke. Not akin to AS bl[=a]c, E. bleak pallid. ?98.] 1. Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a color; as black cloth; black hair or eyes. O night, with hue so black! --Shak. 2. In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in darkness; very dark or gloomy; as a black night; the heavens black with clouds. I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud. --Shak. 3. Fig.: Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked; cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. ``This day's black fate.'' ``Black villainy.'' ``Arise, black vengeance.'' ``Black day.'' ``Black despair.'' --Shak. 4. Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen; foreboding; as to regard one with black looks Note: Black is often used in self-explaining compound words as black-eyed, black-faced, black-haired, black-visaged. {Black act}, the English statute 9 George I, which makes it a felony to appear armed in any park or warren, etc., or to hunt or steal deer, etc., with the face blackened or disguised. Subsequent acts inflicting heavy penalties for malicious injuries to cattle and machinery have been called black acts {Black angel} (Zo["o]l.), a fish of the West Indies and Florida ({Holacanthus tricolor}), with the head and tail yellow, and the middle of the body black. {Black antimony} (Chem.), the black sulphide of antimony, {Sb2S3}, used in pyrotechnics, etc {Black bear} (Zo["o]l.), the common American bear ({Ursus Americanus}). {Black beast}. See {B[^e]te noire}. {Black beetle} (Zo["o]l.), the common large cockroach ({Blatta orientalis}). {Black and blue}, the dark color of a bruise in the flesh, which is accompanied with a mixture of blue. ``To pinch the slatterns black and blue.'' --Hudibras. {Black bonnet} (Zo["o]l.), the black-headed bunting ({Embriza Sch[oe]niclus}) of Europe. {Black canker}, a disease in turnips and other crops, produced by a species of caterpillar. {Black cat} (Zo["o]l.), the fisher, a quadruped of North America allied to the sable, but larger. See {Fisher}. {Black cattle}, any bovine cattle reared for slaughter, in distinction from dairy cattle. [Eng.] {Black cherry}. See under {Cherry}. {Black cockatoo} (Zo["o]l.), the palm cockatoo. See {Cockatoo}. {Black copper}. Same as {Melaconite}. {Black currant}. (Bot.) See {Currant}. {Black diamond}. (Min.) See {Carbonado}. {Black draught} (Med.), a cathartic medicine, composed of senna and magnesia. {Black drop} (Med.), vinegar of opium; a narcotic preparation consisting essentially of a solution of opium in vinegar. {Black earth}, mold; earth of a dark color. --Woodward. {Black flag}, the flag of a pirate, often bearing in white a skull and crossbones; a signal of defiance. {Black flea} (Zo["o]l.), a flea beetle ({Haltica nemorum}) injurious to turnips. {Black flux}, a mixture of carbonate of potash and charcoal, obtained by deflagrating tartar with half its weight of niter. --Brande & C. {Black fly}. (Zo["o]l.) a In the United States, a small venomous, two-winged fly of the genus {Simulium} of several species, exceedingly abundant and troublesome in the northern forests. The larv[ae] are aquatic. b A black plant louse, as the bean aphis ({A. fab[ae]}). {Black Forest} [a translation of G. Schwarzwald], a forest in Baden and W["u]rtemburg, in Germany; a part of the ancient Hercynian forest. {Black game}, or {Black grouse}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Blackcock}, {Grouse}, and {Heath grouse}. {Black grass} (Bot.), a grasslike rush of the species {Juncus Gerardi}, growing on salt marshes, and making good hay. {Black gum} (Bot.), an American tree, the tupelo or pepperidge. See {Tupelo}. {Black Hamburg (grape)} (Bot.), a sweet and juicy variety of dark purple or ``black'' grape. {Black horse} (Zo["o]l.), a fish of the Mississippi valley ({Cycleptus elongatus}), of the sucker family; the Missouri sucker. {Black lemur} (Zo["o]l.), the {Lemurniger} of Madagascar; the {acoumbo} of the natives. {Black list}, a list of persons who are for some reason thought deserving of censure or punishment; -- esp. a list of persons stigmatized as insolvent or untrustworthy, made for the protection of tradesmen or employers. See {Blacklist}, v. t. {Black manganese} (Chem.), the black oxide of manganese, {MnO2}. {Black Maria}, the close wagon in which prisoners are carried to or from jail. {Black martin} (Zo["o]l.), the chimney swift. See {Swift}. {Black moss} (Bot.), the common so-called long moss of the southern United States. See {Tillandsia}. {Black oak}. See under {Oak}. {Black ocher}. See {Wad}. {Black pigment}, a very fine, light carbonaceous substance, or lampblack, prepared chiefly for the manufacture of printers' ink. It is obtained by burning common coal tar. {Black plate}, sheet iron before it is tinned. --Knight. {Black quarter}, malignant anthrax with engorgement of a shoulder or quarter, etc., as of an ox {Black rat} (Zo["o]l.), one of the species of rats ({Mus rattus}), commonly infesting houses. {Black rent}. See {Blackmail}, n., 3. {Black rust}, a disease of wheat, in which a black, moist matter is deposited in the fissures of the grain. {Black sheep}, one in a family or company who is unlike the rest, and makes trouble. {Black silver}. (Min.) See under {Silver}. {Black and tan}, black mixed or spotted with tan color or reddish brown; -- used in describing certain breeds of dogs. {Black tea}. See under {Tea}. {Black tin} (Mining), tin ore (cassiterite), when dressed, stamped and washed, ready for smelting. It is in the form of a black powder, like fine sand. --Knight. {Black walnut}. See under {Walnut}. {Black warrior} (Zo["o]l.), an American hawk ({Buteo Harlani}). Syn: Dark; murky; pitchy; inky; somber; dusky; gloomy; swart; Cimmerian; ebon; atrocious. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Black \Black\, adv Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce blackness. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Black \Black\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Blacked}; p. pr & vb n. {Blacking}.] [See {Black}, a., and cf {Blacken}.] 1. To make black; to blacken; to soil; to sully. They have their teeth blacked, both men and women, for they say a dog hath his teeth white, therefore they will black theirs --Hakluyt. Sins which black thy soul. --J. Fletcher. 2. To make black and shining, as boots or a stove, by applying blacking and then polishing with a brush. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Black \Black\, n. 1. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as a cloth has a good black. Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night. --Shak. 2. A black pigment or dye. 3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain African races. 4. A black garment or dress; as she wears black; pl (Obs.) Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery. Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like show death terrible. --Bacon. That was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers. --Sir T. North. 5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. The black or sight of the eye. --Sir K. Digby 6. A stain; a spot; a smooch. Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust. --Rowley. {Black and white}, writing or print; as I must have that statement in black and white. {Blue black}, a pigment of a blue black color. {Ivory black}, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing. {Berlin black}. See under {Berlin}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: black adj 1: being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light; "black leather jackets"; "as black as coal"; "rich black soil" [syn: {achromatic}] [ant: {white}] 2: of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin; "a great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization"- Martin Luther King Jr [ant: {white}] 3: marked by anger or resentment or hostility; "black looks"; "black words" 4: offering little or no hope; "the future looked black"; "prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a dim view of things" [syn: {bleak}, {dim}] 5: stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable; "black deeds"; "a black lie"; "his black heart has concocted yet another black deed"; "Darth Vader of the dark side"; "a dark purpose"; "dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility"; "the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"-Thomas Hardy [syn: {dark}, {sinister}] 6: (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin; "the stock market crashed on Black Friday"; "a calamitous defeat"; "the battle was a disastrous end to a disastrous campaign"; "such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory"- Charles Darwin; "it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it"- Douglas MacArthur; "a fateful error" [syn: {calamitous}, {disastrous}, {fatal}, {fateful}] 7: (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood; "a face black with fury" [syn: {blackened}] 8: extremely dark; "a black moonless night"; "through the pitch-black woods"; "it was pitch-dark in the celler" [syn: {pitch-black}, {pitch-dark}] 9: harshly ironic or sinister; "black humor"; "a grim joke"; "grim laughter"; "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit" [syn: {grim}, {mordant}] 10: (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading; "black propaganda" 11: distributed or sold illicitly; "the black economy pays no taxes [syn: {bootleg}, {black-market}, {contraband}, {smuggled}] 12: (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame; "Man...has written one of his blackest records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands"- Rachel Carson; "an ignominious retreat"; "inglorious defeat"; "an opprobrious monument to human greed"; "a shameful display of cowardice" [syn: {disgraceful}, {ignominious}, {inglorious}, {opprobrious}, {shameful}] 13: (of coffee) without cream or sugar 14: dressed in black; "a black knight"; "black friars" 15: soiled with dirt or soot; "with feet black from playing outdoors"; "his shirt was black within an hour" n 1: the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white) [syn: {blackness}] [ant: {white}] 2: total absence of light; "they fumbled around in total darkness"; "in the black of night" [syn: {total darkness}, {lightlessness}, {blackness}] 3: a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa) [syn: {Black}, {black person}, {blackamoor}, {Negro}, {Negroid}] 4: (chess or checkers) the darker-colored pieces 5: black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning) v : make or become black; "The smoke blackened the ceiling"; "The ceiling blackened" [syn: {blacken}, {melanize}, {nigrify}] [ant: {whiten}] From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]: Black, AL (town, FIPS 7120) Location: 31.00939 N, 85.74321 W Population (1990): 174 (80 housing units) Area: 8.0 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 36314 Black, MO Zip code(s): 63625 Black, TX Zip code(s): 79035 From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Black properly the absence of all colour. In Prov. 7:9 the Hebrew word means as in the margin of the Revised Version, "the pupil of the eye." It is translated apple" of the eye in Deut. 32:10; Ps 17:8; Prov. 7:2. It is a different word which is rendered black" in Lev. 13:31,37; Cant. 1:5; 5:11; and Zech. 6:2, 6. It is uncertain what the "black marble" of Esther 1:6 was which formed a part of the mosaic pavement.
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