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more about colour
colour |
5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Color \Col"or\, n. [Written also {colour}.] [OF. color, colur, colour, F. couleur, L. color; prob. akin to celare to conceal (the color taken as that which covers). See {Helmet}.] 1. A property depending on the relations of light to the eye, by which individual and specific differences in the hues and tints of objects are apprehended in vision; as gay colors; sad colors, etc Note: The sensation of color depends upon a peculiar function of the retina or optic nerve, in consequence of which rays of light produce different effects according to the length of their waves or undulations, waves of a certain length producing the sensation of red, shorter waves green, and those still shorter blue, etc White, or ordinary, light consists of waves of various lengths so blended as to produce no effect of color, and the color of objects depends upon their power to absorb or reflect a greater or less proportion of the rays which fall upon them 2. Any hue distinguished from white or black. 3. The hue or color characteristic of good health and spirits; ruddy complexion. Give color to my pale cheek. --Shak. 4. That which is used to give color; a paint; a pigment; as oil colors or water colors. 5. That which covers or hides the real character of anything semblance; excuse; disguise; appearance. They had let down the boat into the sea, under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship. --Acts xxvii. 30. That he should die is worthy policy; But yet we want a color for his death. --Shak. 6. Shade or variety of character; kind species. Boys and women are for the most part cattle of this color. --Shak. 7. A distinguishing badge, as a flag or similar symbol (usually in the plural); as the colors or color of a ship or regiment; the colors of a race horse (that is of the cap and jacket worn by the jockey). In the United States each regiment of infantry and artillery has two colors, one national and one regimental. --Farrow. 8. (Law) An apparent right as where the defendant in trespass gave to the plaintiff an appearance of title, by stating his title specially, thus removing the cause from the jury to the court. --Blackstone. Note: Color is express when it is averred in the pleading, and implied when it is implied in the pleading. {Body color}. See under {Body}. {Color blindness}, total or partial inability to distinguish or recognize colors. See {Daltonism}. {Complementary color}, one of two colors so related to each other that when blended together they produce white light; -- so called because each color makes up to the other what it lacks to make it white. Artificial or pigment colors, when mixed, produce effects differing from those of the primary colors, in consequence of partial absorption. {Of color} (as persons, races, etc.), not of the white race; -- commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. {Primary colors}, those developed from the solar beam by the prism, viz., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, which are reduced by some authors to three -- red, green, and violet-blue. These three are sometimes called {fundamental colors}. {Subjective} or {Accidental color}, a false or spurious color seen in some instances, owing to the persistence of the luminous impression upon the retina, and a gradual change of its character, as where a wheel perfectly white, and with a circumference regularly subdivided, is made to revolve rapidly over a dark object, the teeth of the wheel appear to the eye of different shades of color varying with the rapidity of rotation. See {Accidental colors}, under {Accidental}. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Colour \Col"our\, n. See {Color}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: colour adj : (photography) "color film"; "he rented a color television"; "in glorious color"; "marvelous color illustrations" [syn: {color}] [ant: {black-and-white}] n 1: a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks) [syn: {color}, {people of color}, {people of colour}] 2: interest and variety and intensity: "the Puritan Period was lacking in color" [syn: {color}, {vividness}] 3: the timbre of a musical sound; "the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music" [syn: {color}] 4: a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect; "white is the coolest summer color" [syn: {color}, {coloring}, {colouring}] [ant: {colorlessness}] 5: outward or token appearance or form "he tried to give his actions a semblance of authenticity"; "the situation soon took on a different color" [syn: {semblance}, {color}] v 1: decorate with colors [syn: {color}, {emblazon}] 2: add color to [syn: {color}, {color in}, {colour in}] 3: change color, often in an undesired manner; "The shirts discolored" [syn: {discolor}, {discolour}] From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: colour(US "color") Colours are usually represented as {RGB} triples in a {digital} {image} because this corresponds most closely to the electronic signals needed to drive a {CRT}. Several equivalent systems ("{colour models}") exist, e.g. {HSB}. A colour {image} may be stored as three separate images, one for each of red, green, and blue, or each {pixel} may encode the colour using separate {bit-fields} for each colour component, or each pixel may store a logical colour number which is looked up in a hardware {colour palette} to find the colour to display. Printers may use the {CMYK} or {Pantone} representations of colours as well as RGB. (1999-08-02) From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Colour The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18), horses (Zech. 1:8), raiment (Eccl. 9:8). Another Hebrew word so rendered is applied to marble (Esther 1:6), and a cognate word to the lily (Cant. 2:16). A different term, meaning "dazzling," is applied to the countenance (Cant. 5:10). This colour was an emblem of purity and innocence (Mark 16:5; John 20:12; Rev. 19:8, 14), of joy (Eccl. 9:8), and also of victory (Zech. 6:3; Rev. 6:2). The hangings of the tabernacle court (Ex. 27:9; 38:9), the coats, mitres, bonnets, and breeches of the priests (Ex. 39:27,28), and the dress of the high priest on the day of Atonement (Lev. 16:4,32), were white. Black, applied to the hair (Lev. 13:31; Cant. 5:11), the complexion (Cant. 1:5), and to horses (Zech. 6:2,6). The word rendered brown" in Gen. 30:32 (R.V., "black") means properly "scorched", i.e., the colour produced by the influence of the sun's rays. Black" in Job 30:30 means dirty, blackened by sorrow and disease. The word is applied to a mourner's robes (Jer. 8:21; 14:2), to a clouded sky (1 Kings 18:45), to night (Micah 3:6; Jer. 4:28), and to a brook rendered turbid by melted snow (Job 6:16). It is used as symbolical of evil in Zech. 6:2, 6 and Rev. 6:5. It was the emblem of mourning, affliction, calamity (Jer. 14:2; Lam. 4:8; 5:10). Red, applied to blood (2 Kings 3;22), a heifer (Num. 19:2), pottage of lentils (Gen. 25:30), a horse (Zech. 1:8), wine (Prov. 23:31), the complexion (Gen. 25:25; Cant. 5:10). This colour is symbolical of bloodshed (Zech. 6:2; Rev. 6:4; 12:3). Purple, a colour obtained from the secretion of a species of shell-fish (the Murex trunculus) which was found in the Mediterranean, and particularly on the coasts of Phoenicia and Asia Minor. The colouring matter in each separate shell-fish amounted to only a single drop, and hence the great value of this dye. Robes of this colour were worn by kings (Judg. 8:26) and high officers (Esther 8:15). They were also worn by the wealthy and luxurious (Jer. 10:9; Ezek. 27:7; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4). With this colour was associated the idea of royalty and majesty (Judg. 8:26; Cant. 3:10; 7:5; Dan. 5:7, 16,29). Blue. This colour was also procured from a species of shell-fish, the chelzon of the Hebrews, and the Helix ianthina of modern naturalists. The tint was emblematic of the sky, the deep dark hue of the Eastern sky. This colour was used in the same way as purple. The ribbon and fringe of the Hebrew dress were of this colour (Num. 15:38). The loops of the curtains (Ex. 26:4), the lace of the high priest's breastplate, the robe of the ephod, and the lace on his mitre, were blue (Ex. 28:28, 31, 37). Scarlet, or Crimson. In Isa. 1:18 a Hebrew word is used which denotes the worm or grub whence this dye was procured. In Gen. 38:28,30, the word so rendered means "to shine," and expresses the brilliancy of the colour. The small parasitic insects from which this dye was obtained somewhat resembled the cochineal which is found in Eastern countries. It is called by naturalists Coccus ilics The dye was procured from the female grub alone. The only natural object to which this colour is applied in Scripture is the lips, which are likened to a scarlet thread (Cant. 4:3). Scarlet robes were worn by the rich and luxurious (2 Sam. 1:24; Prov. 31:21; Jer. 4:30. Rev. 17:4). It was also the hue of the warrior's dress (Nah. 2:3; Isa. 9:5). The Phoenicians excelled in the art of dyeing this colour (2 Chr. 2:7). These four colours--white, purple, blue, and scarlet--were used in the textures of the tabernacle curtains (Ex. 26:1, 31, 36), and also in the high priest's ephod, girdle, and breastplate (Ex. 28:5, 6, 8, 15). Scarlet thread is mentioned in connection with the rites of cleansing the leper (Lev. 14:4, 6, 51) and of burning the red heifer (Num. 19:6). It was a crimson thread that Rahab was to bind on her window as a sign that she was to be saved alive (Josh. 2:18; 6:25) when the city of Jericho was taken Vermilion, the red sulphuret of mercury, or cinnabar; a colour used for drawing the figures of idols on the walls of temples (Ezek. 23:14), or for decorating the walls and beams of houses (Jer. 22:14).
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