Red \Red\, a. [Compar. Redder (-d?r); superl. Reddest.] [OE.
red, reed, AS. re['a]d, re['o]d; akin to OS. r[=o]d, OFries.
r[=a]d, D. rood, G. roht, rot, OHG. r[=o]t, Dan. & Sw.
r["o]d, Icel. rau[eth]r, rj[=o][eth]r, Goth. r['a]uds, W.
rhudd, Armor. ruz, Ir. & Gael. ruadh, L. ruber, rufus, Gr.
'eryqro`s, Skr. rudhira, rohita; cf. L. rutilus. [root]113.
Cf. Erysipelas, Rouge, Rubric, Ruby, Ruddy,
Russet, Rust.]
Of the color of blood, or of a tint resembling that color; of
the hue of that part of the rainbow, or of the solar
spectrum, which is furthest from the violet part. "Fresh
flowers, white and reede." --Chaucer.
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Your color, I warrant you, is as red as any rose.
--Shak.
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Note: Red is a general term, including many different shades
or hues, as scarlet, crimson, vermilion, orange red,
and the like.
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Note: Red is often used in the formation of self-explaining
compounds; as, red-breasted, red-cheeked, red-faced,
red-haired, red-headed, red-skinned, red-tailed,
red-topped, red-whiskered, red-coasted.
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Red admiral (Zool.), a beautiful butterfly (Vanessa
Atalanta) common in both Europe and America. The front
wings are crossed by a broad orange red band. The larva
feeds on nettles. Called also Atalanta butterfly, and
nettle butterfly.
Red ant. (Zool.)
(a) A very small ant (Myrmica molesta) which often infests
houses.
(b) A larger reddish ant (Formica sanguinea), native of
Europe and America. It is one of the slave-making
species.
Red antimony (Min.), kermesite. See Kermes mineral
(b), under Kermes.
Red ash (Bot.), an American tree (Fraxinus pubescens),
smaller than the white ash, and less valuable for timber.
--Cray.
Red bass. (Zool.) See Redfish
(d) .
Red bay (Bot.), a tree (Persea Caroliniensis) having the
heartwood red, found in swamps in the Southern United
States.
Red beard (Zool.), a bright red sponge (Microciona
prolifera), common on oyster shells and stones. [Local,
U.S.]
Red birch (Bot.), a species of birch (Betula nigra)
having reddish brown bark, and compact, light-colored
wood. --Gray.
Red blindness. (Med.) See Daltonism.
Red book, a book containing the names of all the persons in
the service of the state. [Eng.]
Red book of the Exchequer, an ancient record in which are
registered the names of all that held lands per baroniam
in the time of Henry II. --Brande & C.
Red brass, an alloy containing eight parts of copper and
three of zinc.
Red bug. (Zool.)
(a) A very small mite which in Florida attacks man, and
produces great irritation by its bites.
(b) A red hemipterous insect of the genus Pyrrhocoris,
especially the European species (Pyrrhocoris apterus),
which is bright scarlet and lives in clusters on tree
trunks.
(c) See Cotton stainder, under Cotton.
Red cedar. (Bot.) An evergreen North American tree
(Juniperus Virginiana) having a fragrant red-colored
heartwood.
(b) A tree of India and Australia (Cedrela Toona) having
fragrant reddish wood; -- called also toon tree in
India.
Red horse. (Zool.)
(a) Any large American red fresh-water sucker, especially
Moxostoma macrolepidotum and allied species.
(b) See the Note under Drumfish.
Red lead.
(Chem) See under Lead, and Minium.
Red-lead ore. (Min.) Same as Crocoite.
Red liquor (Dyeing), a solution consisting essentially of
aluminium acetate, used as a mordant in the fixation of
dyestuffs on vegetable fiber; -- so called because used
originally for red dyestuffs. Called also red mordant.
Red maggot (Zool.), the larva of the wheat midge.
Red manganese. (Min.) Same as Rhodochrosite.
Red man, one of the American Indians; -- so called from his
color.
Red maple (Bot.), a species of maple (Acer rubrum). See
Maple.
Red mite. (Zool.) See Red spider, below.
Red mulberry (Bot.), an American mulberry of a dark purple
color (Morus rubra).
Red mullet (Zool.), the surmullet. See Mullet.
Red ocher (Min.), a soft earthy variety of hematite, of a
reddish color.
Red perch (Zool.), the rosefish.
Red phosphorus. (Chem.) See under Phosphorus.
Red pine (Bot.), an American species of pine (Pinus
resinosa); -- so named from its reddish bark.
Red precipitate. See under Precipitate.
Red Republican (European Politics), originally, one who
maintained extreme republican doctrines in France, --
because a red liberty cap was the badge of the party; an
extreme radical in social reform. [Cant]
Red ribbon, the ribbon of the Order of the Bath in England.
Red sanders. (Bot.) See Sanders.
Red sandstone. (Geol.) See under Sandstone.
Red scale (Zool.), a scale insect (Aspidiotus aurantii)
very injurious to the orange tree in California and
Australia.
Red silver (Min.), an ore of silver, of a ruby-red or
reddish black color. It includes proustite, or light red
silver, and pyrargyrite, or dark red silver.
Red snapper (Zool.), a large fish (Lutjanus aya syn.
Lutjanus Blackfordii) abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and
about the Florida reefs.
Red snow, snow colored by a mocroscopic unicellular alga
(Protococcus nivalis) which produces large patches of
scarlet on the snows of arctic or mountainous regions.
Red softening (Med.) a form of cerebral softening in which
the affected parts are red, -- a condition due either to
infarction or inflammation.
Red spider (Zool.), a very small web-spinning mite
(Tetranychus telarius) which infests, and often
destroys, plants of various kinds, especially those
cultivated in houses and conservatories. It feeds mostly
on the under side of the leaves, and causes them to turn
yellow and die. The adult insects are usually pale red.
Called also red mite.
Red squirrel (Zool.), the chickaree.
Red tape,
(a) the tape used in public offices for tying up documents,
etc. Hence,
(b) official formality and delay; excessive bureaucratic
paperwork.
Red underwing (Zool.), any species of noctuid moths
belonging to Catacola and allied genera. The numerous
species are mostly large and handsomely colored. The under
wings are commonly banded with bright red or orange.
Red water, a disease in cattle, so called from an
appearance like blood in the urine.
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White \White\ (hw[imac]t), a. [Compar. Whiter
(hw[imac]t"[~e]r); superl. Whitest.] [OE. whit, AS.
hw[imac]t; akin to OFries. and OS. hw[imac]t, D. wit, G.
weiss, OHG. w[imac]z, hw[imac]z, Icel. hv[imac]tr, Sw. hvit,
Dan. hvid, Goth. hweits, Lith. szveisti, to make bright,
Russ. sviet' light, Skr. [,c]v[=e]ta white, [,c]vit to be
bright. [root]42. Cf. Wheat, Whitsunday.]
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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." --Chaucer.
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White as the whitest lily on a stream. --Longfellow.
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2. Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of
blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear.
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Or whispering with white lips, "The foe!
They come! they come!" --Byron.
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3. Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or
from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure.
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White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear. --Dryden.
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No whiter page than Addison's remains. --Pope.
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4. Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary.
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Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. --Shak.
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5. Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the
like; fortunate; happy; favorable.
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On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as
one of the white days of his life. --Sir W.
Scott.
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6. Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling.
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Come forth, my white spouse. --Chaucer.
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I am his white boy, and will not be gullet. --Ford.
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Note: White is used in many self-explaining compounds, as
white-backed, white-bearded, white-footed.
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White alder. (Bot.) See Sweet pepper bush, under
Pepper.
White ant (Zool.), any one of numerous species of social
pseudoneuropterous insects of the genus Termes. These
insects are very abundant in tropical countries, and form
large and complex communities consisting of numerous
asexual workers of one or more kinds, of large-headed
asexual individuals called soldiers, of one or more queens
(or fertile females) often having the body enormously
distended by the eggs, and, at certain seasons of numerous
winged males, together with the larvae and pupae of each
kind in various stages of development. Many of the species
construct large and complicated nests, sometimes in the
form of domelike structures rising several feet above the
ground and connected with extensive subterranean galleries
and chambers. In their social habits they closely resemble
the true ants. They feed upon animal and vegetable
substances of various kinds, including timber, and are
often very destructive to buildings and furniture.
White arsenic (Chem.), arsenious oxide, As2O3, a
substance of a white color, and vitreous adamantine
luster, having an astringent, sweetish taste. It is a
deadly poison.
White bass (Zool.), a fresh-water North American bass
(Roccus chrysops) found in the Great Likes.
White bear (Zool.), the polar bear. See under Polar.
White blood cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte.
White brand (Zool.), the snow goose.
White brass, a white alloy of copper; white copper.
White campion. (Bot.)
(a) A kind of catchfly (Silene stellata) with white
flowers.
(b) A white-flowered Lychnis (Lychnis vespertina).
White canon (R. C. Ch.), a Premonstratensian.
White caps, the members of a secret organization in various
of the United States, who attempt to drive away or reform
obnoxious persons by lynch-law methods. They appear masked
in white. Their actions resembled those of the Ku Klux
Klan in some ways but they were not formally affiliated
with the Klan, and their victims were often not black.
White cedar (Bot.), an evergreen tree of North America
(Thuja occidentalis), also the related Cupressus
thyoides, or Chamaecyparis sphaeroidea, a slender
evergreen conifer which grows in the so-called cedar
swamps of the Northern and Atlantic States. Both are much
valued for their durable timber. In California the name is
given to the Libocedrus decurrens, the timber of which
is also useful, though often subject to dry rot.
--Goodale. The white cedar of Demerara, Guiana, etc., is a
lofty tree (Icica altissima syn. Bursera altissima)
whose fragrant wood is used for canoes and cabinetwork, as
it is not attacked by insect.
White cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte.
White cell-blood (Med.), leucocythaemia.
White clover (Bot.), a species of small perennial clover
bearing white flowers. It furnishes excellent food for
cattle and horses, as well as for the honeybee. See also
under Clover.
White copper, a whitish alloy of copper. See German
silver, under German.
White copperas (Min.), a native hydrous sulphate of iron;
coquimbite.
White coral (Zool.), an ornamental branched coral
(Amphihelia oculata) native of the Mediterranean.
White corpuscle. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte.
White cricket (Zool.), the tree cricket.
White crop, a crop of grain which loses its green color, or
becomes white, in ripening, as wheat, rye, barley, and
oats, as distinguished from a green crop, or a root crop.
White currant (Bot.), a variety of the common red currant,
having white berries.
White daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. See under Daisy.
White damp, a kind of poisonous gas encountered in coal
mines. --Raymond.
White elephant (Zool.),
(a) a whitish, or albino, variety of the Asiatic elephant.
(b) see white elephant in the vocabulary.
White elm (Bot.), a majestic tree of North America (Ulmus
Americana), the timber of which is much used for hubs of
wheels, and for other purposes.
White ensign. See Saint George's ensign, under Saint.
White feather, a mark or symbol of cowardice. See To show
the white feather, under Feather, n.
White fir (Bot.), a name given to several coniferous trees
of the Pacific States, as Abies grandis, and Abies
concolor.
White flesher (Zool.), the ruffed grouse. See under
Ruffed. [Canada]
White frost. See Hoarfrost.
White game (Zool.), the white ptarmigan.
White garnet (Min.), leucite.
White grass (Bot.), an American grass (Leersia Virginica)
with greenish-white paleae.
White grouse. (Zool.)
(a) The white ptarmigan.
(b) The prairie chicken. [Local, U. S.]
White grub (Zool.), the larva of the June bug and other
allied species. These grubs eat the roots of grasses and
other plants, and often do much damage.
White hake (Zool.), the squirrel hake. See under
Squirrel.
White hawk, or White kite (Zool.), the hen harrier.
White heat, the temperature at which bodies become
incandescent, and appear white from the bright light which
they emit.
White hellebore (Bot.), a plant of the genus Veratrum
(Veratrum album) See Hellebore, 2.
White herring, a fresh, or unsmoked, herring, as
distinguished from a red, or cured, herring. [R.] --Shak.
White hoolet (Zool.), the barn owl. [Prov. Eng.]
White horses (Naut.), white-topped waves; whitecaps.
The White House. See under House.
White ibis (Zool.), an American ibis (Guara alba) having
the plumage pure white, except the tips of the wings,
which are black. It inhabits tropical America and the
Southern United States. Called also Spanish curlew.
White iron.
(a) Thin sheets of iron coated with tin; tinned iron.
(b) A hard, silvery-white cast iron containing a large
proportion of combined carbon.
White iron pyrites (Min.), marcasite.
White land, a tough clayey soil, of a whitish hue when dry,
but blackish after rain. [Eng.]
White lark (Zool.), the snow bunting.
White lead.
(a) A carbonate of lead much used in painting, and for
other purposes; ceruse.
(b) (Min.) Native lead carbonate; cerusite.
White leather, buff leather; leather tanned with alum and
salt.
White leg (Med.), milk leg. See under Milk.
White lettuce (Bot.), rattlesnake root. See under
Rattlesnake.
White lie. See under Lie.
White light.
(a) (Physics) Light having the different colors in the
same proportion as in the light coming directly from
the sun, without having been decomposed, as by passing
through a prism. See the Note under Color, n., 1.
(b) A kind of firework which gives a brilliant white
illumination for signals, etc.
White lime, a solution or preparation of lime for
whitewashing; whitewash.
White line (Print.), a void space of the breadth of a line,
on a printed page; a blank line.
White meat.
(a) Any light-colored flesh, especially of poultry.
(b) Food made from milk or eggs, as butter, cheese, etc.
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Driving their cattle continually with them, and
feeding only upon their milk and white meats.
--Spenser.
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White merganser (Zool.), the smew.
White metal.
(a) Any one of several white alloys, as pewter, britannia,
etc.
(b) (Metal.) A fine grade of copper sulphide obtained at a
certain stage in copper smelting.
White miller. (Zool.)
(a) The common clothes moth.
(b) A common American bombycid moth (Spilosoma
Virginica) which is pure white with a few small black
spots; -- called also ermine moth, and virgin
moth. See Woolly bear, under Woolly.
White money, silver money.
White mouse (Zool.), the albino variety of the common
mouse.
White mullet (Zool.), a silvery mullet (Mugil curema)
ranging from the coast of the United States to Brazil; --
called also blue-back mullet, and liza.
White nun (Zool.), the smew; -- so called from the white
crest and the band of black feathers on the back of its
head, which give the appearance of a hood.
White oak. (Bot.) See under Oak.
White owl. (Zool.)
(a) The snowy owl.
(b) The barn owl.
White partridge (Zool.), the white ptarmigan.
White perch. (Zool.)
(a) A North American fresh-water bass (Morone Americana)
valued as a food fish.
(b) The croaker, or fresh-water drum.
(c) Any California surf fish.
White pine. (Bot.) See the Note under Pine.
White poplar (Bot.), a European tree (Populus alba) often
cultivated as a shade tree in America; abele.
White poppy (Bot.), the opium-yielding poppy. See Poppy.
White powder, a kind of gunpowder formerly believed to
exist, and to have the power of exploding without noise.
[Obs.]
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A pistol charged with white powder. --Beau. & Fl.
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White precipitate. (Old Chem.) See under Precipitate.
White rabbit. (Zool.)
(a) The American northern hare in its winter pelage.
(b) An albino rabbit.
White rent,
(a) (Eng. Law) Formerly, rent payable in silver; --
opposed to black rent. See Blackmail, n., 3.
(b) A rent, or duty, of eight pence, payable yearly by
every tinner in Devon and Cornwall to the Duke of
Cornwall, as lord of the soil. [Prov. Eng.]
White rhinoceros. (Zool.)
(a) The one-horned, or Indian, rhinoceros (Rhinoceros
Indicus). See Rhinoceros.
(b) The umhofo.
White ribbon, the distinctive badge of certain
organizations for the promotion of temperance or of moral
purity; as, the White-ribbon Army.
White rope (Naut.), untarred hemp rope.
White rot. (Bot.)
(a) Either of several plants, as marsh pennywort and
butterwort, which were thought to produce the disease
called rot in sheep.
(b) A disease of grapes. See White rot, under Rot.
White sage (Bot.), a white, woolly undershrub (Eurotia
lanata) of Western North America; -- called also winter
fat.
White salmon (Zool.), the silver salmon.
White salt, salt dried and calcined; decrepitated salt.
White scale (Zool.), a scale insect (Aspidiotus Nerii)
injurious to the orange tree. See Orange scale, under
Orange.
White shark (Zool.), a species of man-eating shark. See
under Shark.
White softening. (Med.) See Softening of the brain, under
Softening.
White spruce. (Bot.) See Spruce, n., 1.
White squall (Naut.), a sudden gust of wind, or furious
blow, which comes up without being marked in its approach
otherwise than by whitecaps, or white, broken water, on
the surface of the sea.
White staff, the badge of the lord high treasurer of
England. --Macaulay.
White stork (Zool.), the common European stork.
White sturgeon. (Zool.) See Shovelnose
(d) .
White sucker. (Zool.)
(a) The common sucker.
(b) The common red horse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum).
White swelling (Med.), a chronic swelling of the knee,
produced by a strumous inflammation of the synovial
membranes of the kneejoint and of the cancellar texture of
the end of the bone forming the kneejoint; -- applied also
to a lingering chronic swelling of almost any kind.
White tombac. See Tombac.
White trout (Zool.), the white weakfish, or silver
squeteague (Cynoscion nothus), of the Southern United
States.
White vitriol (Chem.), hydrous sulphate of zinc. See White
vitriol, under Vitriol.
White wagtail (Zool.), the common, or pied, wagtail.
White wax, beeswax rendered white by bleaching.
White whale (Zool.), the beluga.
White widgeon (Zool.), the smew.
White wine. any wine of a clear, transparent color,
bordering on white, as Madeira, sherry, Lisbon, etc.; --
distinguished from wines of a deep red color, as port and
Burgundy. "White wine of Lepe." --Chaucer.
White witch, a witch or wizard whose supernatural powers
are supposed to be exercised for good and beneficent
purposes. --Addison. --Cotton Mather.
White wolf. (Zool.)
(a) A light-colored wolf (Canis laniger) native of
Thibet; -- called also chanco, golden wolf, and
Thibetan wolf.
(b) The albino variety of the gray wolf.
White wren (Zool.), the willow warbler; -- so called from
the color of the under parts.
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