White
White (hwīt) , adjective
[Old English whit, Anglo-Saxon hwīt; akin to OFries. and Old Saxon hwīt, Dutch wit, German weiss, Old High German wīz, hwīz, Icelandic hvītr, Swedish hvit, Danish hvid, Gothic hweits, Lithuanian szveisti, to make bright, Russ. sviet' light, Sanskrit cvēta white, cvit to be bright. r42. Compare Wheat, Whitsunday.]
1.
Reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; having the color of pure snow; snowy; -- the opposite of black or dark; as, white paper; a white skin.
Pearls white.
White as the whitest lily on a stream.
2.
Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear.
Or whispering with white lips, “The foe!
They come! they come!”
3.
Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure.
White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear.
No whiter page than Addison's remains.
4.
Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary.
Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this.
5.
Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable.
On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life.
6.
Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling.
Come forth, my white spouse.
I am his white boy, and will not be gullet.
Driving their cattle continually with them, and feeding only upon their milk and white meats.
A pistol charged with white powder.
White is used in many self-explaining compounds, as white-backed, white-bearded, white-footed.
White , noun
1.
The color of pure snow; one of the natural colors of bodies, yet not strictly a color, but a composition of all colors; the opposite of black; whiteness. See the Note under Color, n., 1.
Finely attired in a of white.
2.
Something having the color of snow; something white, or nearly so; as, the white of the eye.
3.
Specifically, the central part of the butt in archery, which was formerly painted white; the center of a mark at which a missile is shot.
'T was I won the wager, though you hit the white.
4.
A person with a white skin; a member of the white, or Caucasian, races of men.
5.
A white pigment; as, Venice white.
6.
(Zoology) Any one of numerous species of butterflies belonging to Pieris, and allied genera in which the color is usually white. See Cabbage butterfly, under Cabbage.
Collocations (5)
Black and white , See under Black.
Flake white or Paris white , See under Flack, Paris, etc.
White of egg , the viscous pellucid fluid which surrounds the yolk in an egg, particularly in the egg of a fowl. In a hen's egg it is alkaline, and contains about 86 per cent of water and 14 per cent of solid matter, the greater portion of which is egg albumin. It likewise contains a small amount of globulin, and traces of fats and sugar, with some inorganic matter. Heated above 60° C. it coagulates to a solid mass, owing to the albumin which it contains. — Parr
White of the eye (Anatomy) , the white part of the ball of the eye surrounding the transparent cornea.
White , transitive verb
[Anglo-Saxon hwītan.]
To make white; to whiten; to whitewash; to bleach.
Whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of... uncleanness.
So as no fuller on earth can white them.