black

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Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Synonyms 1.3.2 Antonyms 1.3.3 Translations 1.4 Noun 1.4.1 Synonyms 1.4.2 Antonyms 1.4.3 Translations 1.5 Verb 1.5.1 Synonyms 1.5.2 Translations 1.6 Derived terms 1.7 Related terms 1.8 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• enPR: blăk, IPA: /blæk/, SAMPA: /bl{k/
•  Audio (UK)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -æk

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English blak, from Old English blæc. Cognates include blaze, bleach, blond, bald, bale, pale, Latin flagare (“‘to shine’”), Latin blancus (“‘white’”), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌰 (bala), “‘paleness’”), German erbleichen, bleich, go -, turn pale, German bleichen, bleach and Russian белый (“‘white’”).

[edit] Adjective

black (comparative blacker, superlative blackest)

1. (of an object) absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and colourless.
2. (of a place, etc) without light.
3. (sometimes capitalized) Relating to persons of African descent or (especially in the US) their culture.
4. Bad; evil.
   • 1655, Benjamin Needler, Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis. London: N. Webb and W. Grantham, page 168.

     ...what a black day would that be, when the Ordinances of Jesus Christ should as it were be excommunicated, and cast out of the Church of Christ.

5. Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced.
   • 1866, The Contemporary Review, London: A. Strahan, page 338.

     Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the black market was flourishing.

6. (Irish, idiomatic) Overcrowded.
7. (of coffee) Lacking cream, milk, and creamer.
8. (board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the black set, no matter what the actual colour.

   The black pieces in this set are in fact made of dark blue glass.

[edit] Synonyms

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

[edit] Antonyms

• (dark and colourless): white
• (without light): bright, illuminated, lit

[edit] Translations

[edit] Noun

black (plural blacks)

1. (color/colour) The colour/color perceived in the absence of light.

   black colour:

2. A black dye, pigment.
3. A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
4. (sometimes capitalised) A person of African descent.
5. (billiards, snooker, pool) the black: The black ball.
6. (baseball) The edge of home plate
7. (British) a type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.

[edit] Synonyms

• (colour or absence of light):
  • blackness
• (person)
  • (standard) African American (in the US), Afro-American (in the US), person of color (US) or person of colour (UK)
  • (usually derogatory) Negro
  • (derogatory) coon, darkie or darky, nigger

[edit] Antonyms

• (colour, dye, pen) white

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

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

1. To make black, to blacken.
   • 1859: Oliver Optic, Poor and Proud; or, The Fortunes of Katy Redburn, a Story for Young Folks [1]

     "I don't want to fight; but you are a mean, dirty blackguard, or you wouldn't have treated a girl like that," replied Tommy, standing as stiff as a stake before the bully.

     "Say that again, and I'll black your eye for you."

   • 1911: Edna Ferber, Buttered Side Down [2]

     Ted, you can black your face, and dye your hair, and squint, and some fine day, sooner or later, somebody'll come along and blab the whole thing.

   • 1922: John Galsworthy, A Family Man: In Three Acts [3]

     I saw red, and instead of a cab I fetched that policeman. Of course father did black his eye.

2. To apply blacking to something.
   • 1853: Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin [4]

     ...he must catch, curry, and saddle his own horse; he must black his own brogans (for he will not be able to buy boots).

   • 1861: George William Curtis, Trumps: A Novel [5]

     But in a moment he went to Greenidge's bedside, and said, shyly, in a low voice, "Shall I black your boots for you?"

   • 1911: Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson [6]

     Loving you, I could conceive no life sweeter than hers -- to be always near you; to black your boots, carry up your coals, scrub your doorstep; always to be working for you, hard and humbly and without thanks.

3. (British) To boycott something or someone, usually as part of an industrial dispute.

[edit] Synonyms

• (make black) blacken, darken
• (boycott) blackball, blacklist

[edit] Translations

[edit] Derived terms

black alder blackamoor black-and-blue black-and-tan black and white black arts black bag job blackball black bean black bear black belt blackberry black bile blackboard black body black book black bottom black bottom pie black box black bread black bread mold black bun blackbutt blackcap black cherry black coffee black cohosh black comedy black cow blackcurrant blackdamp Black Death black diamond black dwarf black economy blacken black-eyed black-eyed bean black-eyed pea black-eyed Susan

black-faced blackfish black flag blackfly Black Forest Black Forest cake, Black Forest gateau black frost black game blackguard black gum blackhead black-hearted black hole black humor, black humour black ice blackjack black knight black-lead blackleg black letter black light black list black-list blackly black lung blackmail black magic black man Black Maria black mark black market black mass black measles black money black mustard blackness black nightshade black out blackout Black Panther

black pepper blackpoll black powder Black Power black pudding black racer black raspberry Black Rod black rot black shale black sheep black skimmer blacksmith black spot black stork blackstrap black stump black swan black tea blackthorn black tie blacktop Black Tuesday black velvet black walnut blackwater black widow blackwood blackwork carbon black coal black ivory black Large Black long black penny black pitch-black platinum black short black slate black television black

[edit] Related terms

café noir calamander chernozem

melancholy melena nigrescence

nigrosine rouge et noir skean-dhu

[edit] See also

• monochrome
• Appendix:Colours