chromo

See also: chromo-

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹəʊməʊ/

• Audio (AU)

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Etymology 1

Shortened from chromolithograph.

Noun

chromo (plural chromos)

1. (chiefly historical) A color print produced by chromolithography.
   • 1870, Various, Punchinello Vol. 1, No. 21, August 20, 1870‎^[1]:

     All Nature is smiling, in fact, with one large, comprehensive smile, exactly like a first-class PRANG chromo with a fresh coat of varnish upon it.

   • 1883, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Life on the Mississippi‎^[2]:

     It was manifest that we all felt that we ought to send the poor shoemaker SOMETHING. There was long and thoughtful discussion of this point; and we finally decided to send him a chromo.

   • 1999 February 19, Deanna Isaacs, “On Exhibit: a treasure trove of Mexican pop art”, in Chicago Reader‎^[3]:

     The neglected warehouse turned out to be a treasury of calendar art from the 1930s through the 1970s, years when chromo art calendars were a major advertising medium, a vehicle for national pride, and a fixture in nearly every home, business, and school.

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

chromo (plural chromos)

1. (chiefly Australia) A prostitute.
   • 1970, John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, New York, published 2007, page 81:

     That dried-up lady snob lived behind lace curtains all her life. She's of no more importance than a chromo.

Etymology 3

Shortened from chromodomain.

Adjective

chromo (not comparable)

1. (genetics) Of or relating to the chromodomain, a protein structural domain associated with chromatin production
   • 1998 April 24, Angus I. Lamond, William C. Earnshaw, “Structure and Function in the Nucleus”, in Science‎^[4], volume 280, number 5363, →DOI, pages 547–553:

     HP1 shares an ~50-amino acid NH 2 -terminal sequence motif, the chromo domain, with polycomb, an important regulatory gene that functions in the stable repression of homeotic genes during Drosophila development (28 ).

   • 2001 April 6, Jun-ichi Nakayama et al., “Role of Histone H3 Lysine 9 Methylation in Epigenetic Control of Heterochromatin Assembly”, in Science‎^[5], volume 292, number 5514, →DOI, pages 110–113:

     To determine whether the conserved domains, the chromo, SET, and cysteine-rich regions, were also critical for Clr4 HMTase activity, we tested mutant Clr4 proteins for HMTase activity.