colour
adj 1: having or capable of producing colors; "color film"; "he
rented a color television"; "marvelous color
illustrations" [syn: color, colour] [ant: black and
white(p), black-and-white]
n 1: any material used for its color; "she used a different
color for the trim" [syn: coloring material, colouring
material, color, colour]
2: a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race
(especially Blacks) [syn: color, colour, people of
color, people of colour]
3: (physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their
role in the strong interaction; "each flavor of quarks comes
in three colors" [syn: color, colour]
4: interest and variety and intensity; "the Puritan Period was
lacking in color"; "the characters were delineated with
exceptional vividness" [syn: color, colour, vividness]
5: the timbre of a musical sound; "the recording fails to
capture the true color of the original music" [syn: color,
colour, coloration, colouration]
6: a visual attribute of things that results from the light they
emit or transmit or reflect; "a white color is made up of
many different wavelengths of light" [syn: color, colour,
coloring, colouring] [ant: achromaticity,
achromatism, colorlessness, colourlessness]
7: an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately
misleading; "he hoped his claims would have a semblance of
authenticity"; "he tried to give his falsehood the gloss of
moral sanction"; "the situation soon took on a different
color" [syn: semblance, gloss, color, colour]
8: the appearance of objects (or light sources) described in
terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or
brightness) and saturation [syn: color, colour]
v 1: modify or bias; "His political ideas color his lectures"
[syn: color, colour]
2: decorate with colors; "color the walls with paint in warm
tones" [syn: color, colour, emblazon]
3: give a deceptive explanation or excuse for; "color a lie"
[syn: color, colour, gloss]
4: affect as in thought or feeling; "My personal feelings color
my judgment in this case"; "The sadness tinged his life"
[syn: tinge, color, colour, distort]
5: add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored
the trees"; "colorize black and white film" [syn: color,
colorize, colorise, colourise, colourize, colour,
color in, colour in] [ant: discolor]
6: change color, often in an undesired manner; "The shirts
discolored" [syn: discolor, discolour, colour, color]
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Color \Col"or\ (k[u^]l"[~e]r), n. [Written also colour.] [OF.
color, colur, colour, F. couleur, L. color; prob. akin to
celare to conceal (the color taken as that which covers). See
Helmet.]
1. A property depending on the relations of light to the eye,
by which individual and specific differences in the hues
and tints of objects are apprehended in vision; as, gay
colors; sad colors, etc.
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Note: The sensation of color depends upon a peculiar function
of the retina or optic nerve, in consequence of which
rays of light produce different effects according to
the length of their waves or undulations, waves of a
certain length producing the sensation of red, shorter
waves green, and those still shorter blue, etc. White,
or ordinary, light consists of waves of various lengths
so blended as to produce no effect of color, and the
color of objects depends upon their power to absorb or
reflect a greater or less proportion of the rays which
fall upon them.
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2. Any hue distinguished from white or black.
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3. The hue or color characteristic of good health and
spirits; ruddy complexion.
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Give color to my pale cheek. --Shak.
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4. That which is used to give color; a paint; a pigment; as,
oil colors or water colors.
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5. That which covers or hides the real character of anything;
semblance; excuse; disguise; appearance.
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They had let down the boat into the sea, under color
as though they would have cast anchors out of the
foreship. --Acts xxvii.
30.
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That he should die is worthy policy;
But yet we want a color for his death. --Shak.
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6. Shade or variety of character; kind; species.
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Boys and women are for the most part cattle of this
color. --Shak.
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7. A distinguishing badge, as a flag or similar symbol
(usually in the plural); as, the colors or color of a ship
or regiment; the colors of a race horse (that is, of the
cap and jacket worn by the jockey).
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In the United States each regiment of infantry and
artillery has two colors, one national and one
regimental. --Farrow.
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8. (Law) An apparent right; as where the defendant in
trespass gave to the plaintiff an appearance of title, by
stating his title specially, thus removing the cause from
the jury to the court. --Blackstone.
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Note: Color is express when it is averred in the pleading,
and implied when it is implied in the pleading.
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Body color. See under Body.
Color blindness, total or partial inability to distinguish
or recognize colors. See Daltonism.
Complementary color, one of two colors so related to each
other that when blended together they produce white light;
-- so called because each color makes up to the other what
it lacks to make it white. Artificial or pigment colors,
when mixed, produce effects differing from those of the
primary colors, in consequence of partial absorption.
Of color (as persons, races, etc.), not of the white race;
-- commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro
blood, pure or mixed.
Primary colors, those developed from the solar beam by the
prism, viz., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and
violet, which are reduced by some authors to three, --
red, green, and violet-blue. These three are sometimes
called fundamental colors.
Subjective color or Accidental color, a false or spurious
color seen in some instances, owing to the persistence of
the luminous impression upon the retina, and a gradual
change of its character, as where a wheel perfectly white,
and with a circumference regularly subdivided, is made to
revolve rapidly over a dark object, the teeth of the wheel
appear to the eye of different shades of color varying
with the rapidity of rotation. See Accidental colors,
under Accidental.
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Colour
The subject of colours holds an important place in the
Scriptures.
White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is
applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa.
1:18), horses (Zech. 1:8), raiment (Eccl. 9:8). Another Hebrew
word so rendered is applied to marble (Esther 1:6), and a
cognate word to the lily (Cant. 2:16). A different term, meaning
"dazzling," is applied to the countenance (Cant. 5:10).
This colour was an emblem of purity and innocence (Mark 16:5;
John 20:12; Rev. 19:8, 14), of joy (Eccl. 9:8), and also of
victory (Zech. 6:3; Rev. 6:2). The hangings of the tabernacle
court (Ex. 27:9; 38:9), the coats, mitres, bonnets, and breeches
of the priests (Ex. 39:27,28), and the dress of the high priest
on the day of Atonement (Lev. 16:4,32), were white.
Black, applied to the hair (Lev. 13:31; Cant. 5:11), the
complexion (Cant. 1:5), and to horses (Zech. 6:2,6). The word
rendered "brown" in Gen. 30:32 (R.V., "black") means properly
"scorched", i.e., the colour produced by the influence of the
sun's rays. "Black" in Job 30:30 means dirty, blackened by
sorrow and disease. The word is applied to a mourner's robes
(Jer. 8:21; 14:2), to a clouded sky (1 Kings 18:45), to night
(Micah 3:6; Jer. 4:28), and to a brook rendered turbid by melted
snow (Job 6:16). It is used as symbolical of evil in Zech. 6:2,
6 and Rev. 6:5. It was the emblem of mourning, affliction,
calamity (Jer. 14:2; Lam. 4:8; 5:10).
Red, applied to blood (2 Kings 3;22), a heifer (Num. 19:2),
pottage of lentils (Gen. 25:30), a horse (Zech. 1:8), wine
(Prov. 23:31), the complexion (Gen. 25:25; Cant. 5:10). This
colour is symbolical of bloodshed (Zech. 6:2; Rev. 6:4; 12:3).
Purple, a colour obtained from the secretion of a species of
shell-fish (the Murex trunculus) which was found in the
Mediterranean, and particularly on the coasts of Phoenicia and
Asia Minor. The colouring matter in each separate shell-fish
amounted to only a single drop, and hence the great value of
this dye. Robes of this colour were worn by kings (Judg. 8:26)
and high officers (Esther 8:15). They were also worn by the
wealthy and luxurious (Jer. 10:9; Ezek. 27:7; Luke 16:19; Rev.
17:4). With this colour was associated the idea of royalty and
majesty (Judg. 8:26; Cant. 3:10; 7:5; Dan. 5:7, 16,29).
Blue. This colour was also procured from a species of
shell-fish, the chelzon of the Hebrews, and the Helix ianthina
of modern naturalists. The tint was emblematic of the sky, the
deep dark hue of the Eastern sky. This colour was used in the
same way as purple. The ribbon and fringe of the Hebrew dress
were of this colour (Num. 15:38). The loops of the curtains (Ex.
26:4), the lace of the high priest's breastplate, the robe of
the ephod, and the lace on his mitre, were blue (Ex. 28:28, 31,
37).
Scarlet, or Crimson. In Isa. 1:18 a Hebrew word is used which
denotes the worm or grub whence this dye was procured. In Gen.
38:28,30, the word so rendered means "to shine," and expresses
the brilliancy of the colour. The small parasitic insects from
which this dye was obtained somewhat resembled the cochineal
which is found in Eastern countries. It is called by naturalists
Coccus ilics. The dye was procured from the female grub alone.
The only natural object to which this colour is applied in
Scripture is the lips, which are likened to a scarlet thread
(Cant. 4:3). Scarlet robes were worn by the rich and luxurious
(2 Sam. 1:24; Prov. 31:21; Jer. 4:30. Rev. 17:4). It was also
the hue of the warrior's dress (Nah. 2:3; Isa. 9:5). The
Phoenicians excelled in the art of dyeing this colour (2 Chr.
2:7).
These four colours--white, purple, blue, and scarlet--were
used in the textures of the tabernacle curtains (Ex. 26:1, 31,
36), and also in the high priest's ephod, girdle, and
breastplate (Ex. 28:5, 6, 8, 15). Scarlet thread is mentioned in
connection with the rites of cleansing the leper (Lev. 14:4, 6,
51) and of burning the red heifer (Num. 19:6). It was a crimson
thread that Rahab was to bind on her window as a sign that she
was to be saved alive (Josh. 2:18; 6:25) when the city of
Jericho was taken.
Vermilion, the red sulphuret of mercury, or cinnabar; a colour
used for drawing the figures of idols on the walls of temples
(Ezek. 23:14), or for decorating the walls and beams of houses
(Jer. 22:14).
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