BLACK

black

(adjective) marked by anger or resentment or hostility; “black looks”; “black words”

black

(adjective) of or belonging to a racial group 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.

black, pitch-black, pitch-dark

(adjective) extremely dark; “a black moonless night”; “through the pitch-black woods”; “it was pitch-dark in the cellar”

black

(adjective) 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”

black, blackened

(adjective) (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood; “a face black with fury”

black, smutty

(adjective) soiled with dirt or soot; “with feet black from playing outdoors”; “his shirt was black within an hour”

black

(adjective) (of coffee) without cream or sugar

black, calamitous, disastrous, fatal, fateful

(adjective) (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”

black, dark, sinister

(adjective) 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

black, disgraceful, ignominious, inglorious, opprobrious, shameful

(adjective) (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”

black, bleak, dim

(adjective) 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”

bootleg, black, black-market, contraband, smuggled

(adjective) distributed or sold illicitly; “the black economy pays no taxes”

black

(adjective) (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading; “black propaganda”

black, grim, mordant

(adjective) harshly ironic or sinister; “black humor”; “a grim joke”; “grim laughter”; “fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit”

black

(noun) black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning); “the widow wore black”

black

(noun) (board games) the darker pieces

black, blackness, inkiness

(noun) the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)

Black, African-American, Negro, Negroid

(noun) a person with African ancestry, “Negro” and “Negroid” are archaic and pejorative today

Black, Shirley Temple Black, Shirley Temple

(noun) popular child actress of the 1930’s (born in 1928)

Black, Joseph Black

(noun) British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)

blacken, melanize, melanise, black

(verb) make or become black; “The smoke blackened the ceiling”; “The ceiling blackened”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Proper noun

Black (plural Blacks)

A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Black is the 174th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 154,738 individuals. Black is most common among White (74.63%) and Black (19.00%) individuals.

Etymology 2

Adjective

Black (not comparable)

Alternative letter-case form of black (“of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin”)

Noun

Black (plural Blacks)

Alternative letter-case form of black (“person having dark pigmentation of the skin”)

Usage notes

• See usage notes at black regarding capitalization of the term.

Etymology

Adjective

black (comparative blacker, superlative blackest)

(of an object) Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.

(of a place, etc) Without light.

(sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.

(chiefly, historical) Designated for use by those ethnic groups which have dark pigmentation of the skin.

(card games, of a card) Of the spades or clubs suits. Compare red (“of the hearts or diamonds suit”)

Bad; evil; ill-omened.

Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen.

(of objects, markets, etc) Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced.

(Ireland, informal) Overcrowded.

(of coffee or tea) Without any cream, milk, or creamer.

(board games, chess) Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess the set used by the player who moves second) (often regardless of the pieces' actual colour).

(typography) Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color. Compare white (“said of a character or symbol outline, not filled with color”).

(politics) Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

Clandestine; relating to a political, military, or espionage operation or site, the existence or details of which is withheld from the general public.

Occult; relating to something (such as mystical or magical knowledge) which is unknown to or kept secret from the general public.

(Ireland, now, pejorative) Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic

Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc) that is dark (or black); in taxonomy, especially: dark in comparison to another species with the same base name.

Foul; dirty.

Usage notes

• Some style guides recommend capitalizing Black in reference to the racial group, while others advise using lowercase (black); lowercase is more common.

Synonyms

• (dark and colourless): dark; swart

• (without light): dark, gloomy, pitch-black

Antonyms

• (dark and colourless): white, nonblack, unblack

• (without light): bright, illuminated, lit

Noun

black (countable and uncountable, plural blacks)

(countable and uncountable) The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.

(countable and uncountable) A black dye or pigment.

(countable) A pen, pencil, crayon, etc, made of black pigment.

(in the plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.

(sometimes capitalised, countable) A person of African, Aborigine, or Maori descent; a dark-skinned person.

(informal) Blackness, the condition of having dark skin.

(billiards, snooker, pool, countable) The black ball.

(baseball, countable) The edge of home plate.

(British, countable) A type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.

(informal, countable) Blackcurrant syrup (in mixed drinks, e.g. snakebite and black, cider and black).

(in chess and similar games, countable) The person playing with the black set of pieces.

(countable) Something, or a part of a thing, which is black.

(obsolete, countable) A stain; a spot.

A dark smut fungus, harmful to wheat.

(US, slang) Marijuana.

Synonyms

• (colour or absence of light)

blackness

• (person)

(standard) African American (in the US), Afro-American (in the US), person of African descent

(usually derogatory or historical): Negro, colored

(derogatory): coon, darkie or darky, nigger

Antonyms

• (colour, dye, pen): white

Verb

black (third-person singular simple present blacks, present participle blacking, simple past and past participle blacked)

(transitive) To make black; to blacken.

(transitive) To apply blacking to (something).

(British, transitive) To boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.

Synonyms

• (make black): blacken, darken, swarten

• (boycott): blackball, blacklist; see also boycott

Source: Wiktionary


Black, a. Etym: [OE. blak, AS. blæc; akin to Icel. blakkr dark, swarthy, Sw. bläck ink, Dan. blæk, OHG. blach, LG. & D. blaken to burn with a black smoke. Not akin to AS. blac, E. bleak pallid.

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 (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), the common American bear (Ursus Americanus).

– Black beast. See BĂŞte noire.

– Black beetle (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), the black-headed bunting (Embriza Schoeniclus) of Europe.

– Black canker, a disease in turnips and other crops, produced by a species of caterpillar.

– Black cat (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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. (Zoöl.) (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 larvæ are aquatic. (b) A black plant louse, as the bean aphis (A. fabæ).

– Black Forest Etym: [a translation of G. Schwarzwald], a forest in Baden and WĂĽrtemburg, in Germany; a part of the ancient Hercynian forest.

– Black game, or Black grouse. (Zoöl.) 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 (Zoöl.), a fish of the Mississippi valley (Cycleptus elongatus), of the sucker family; the Missouri sucker.

– Black lemur (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), an American hawk (Buteo Harlani).

Syn.

– Dark; murky; pitchy; inky; somber; dusky; gloomy; swart; Cimmerian; ebon; atrocious.

Black, adv.

Definition: Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce blackness.

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.)

Definition: 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.

Black, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blacked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Blacking.] Etym: [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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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(verb) embody the essential characteristics of or be a typical example of; “The fugue typifies Bach’s style of composition”


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