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.

Part of speech: noun (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.)

5. 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.

6. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. The black or sight of the eye. Sir K. Digby.

7. 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.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

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.

Part of speech: adjective (a.)

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.

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

Part of speech: adverb (adv.)

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