black

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Absorbing all light and reflecting none

   Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.

   • The items around him were black in colour.
   • Speaking of round sunglasses, these lightweight polarized ones and come in two shades of tortoiseshell as well as black and bronze.
2. 2

   Without light.

3. 3

   Belonging to or descended from any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc.) ethnic groups…

   Belonging to or descended from any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc.) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin. (See usage notes below.)

   • Somebody tell me, what can I do / Something is holding me back / Is it because I'm black?
   • I believed that a huge injustice had been perpetrated for hundreds of years on every black man, woman, and child in the United States.
   • I am a young, light-skinned black woman, and truer words were never written of the problem we light-skinned blacks have had to live with. The article explains in-depth what it's like.
4. ›+ 41 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Designated for use by those ethnic groups (as described above).

      • black drinking fountain; black hospital
   2. 5

      Of the spades or clubs suits.

      • I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.
   3. 6

      Bad

      Bad; evil; ill-omened.

      • black magic
      • […] 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.
   4. 7

      Expressing menace or discontent

      Expressing menace or discontent; threatening; sullen.

      • He shot her a black look.
      • The lassie had grace given her to refuse, but with a woeful heart, and Heriotside rode off in black discontent, leaving poor Ailie to sigh her love. He came back the next day and the next, but aye he got the same answer.
   5. 8

      Illegitimate, illegal, or disgraced.

      • Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the black market was flourishing.
   6. 9

      Foul

      Foul; dirty, soiled.

      • Then trip him, that his heeles may kicke at Heauen, / And that his Soule may be as damn'd aud blacke / As Hell, whereto it goes.
   7. 10

      Overcrowded.

   8. 11

      Without any cream, milk, or creamer.

      • Jim drinks his coffee black, but Ellen prefers it with creamer.
   9. 12

      Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set…

      Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess, the set used by the player who moves second) (often regardless of the pieces' actual colour).

      • The black pieces in this chess set are made of dark blue glass.
      • Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks.
   10. 13

       Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color.

       • Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ (“WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX”); ☛ (“BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX”).
   11. 14

       Of or pertaining to anarchism

       Of or pertaining to anarchism; anarchist.

   12. 15

       Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

       • After the election, the parties united in a black-yellow alliance.
   13. 16

       Clandestine

       Clandestine; relating to a political, military, or espionage operation or site, the existence or details of which is withheld from the general public.

       • 5 percent of the Defense Department funding will go to black projects.
       • black operations/black ops; black room; black site
   14. 17

       Occult

       Occult; relating to something (such as mystical or magical knowledge) which is unknown to or kept secret from the general public.

       • Pope Joan, who once occupied the throne of the Vatican, was reputed to be the blackest sorcerer of them all.
       • But a hel-rúne was one who knew secret black knowledge – and the association of hell with the dead shows that the gloss in O.H.G. 'necromancia' is very close.
   15. 18

       Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic.…

       Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic. (Compare blackmouth ("Presbyterian").)

       • the Black North
       • the Royal Black Institution
   16. 19

       Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc.) that is dark (or…

       Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc.) that is dark (or black).

       • the black knight; black bile
   17. 20

       Sullen and solemn

       Sullen and solemn; bad-tempered and unhappy.

       • They gave up trying to talk to me. Ever since I gave them that big scolding. But every time they see me, all face black black.
   18. 21

       The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected,…

       The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.

       • Black is the badge of hell, / The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night.
       • CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This four component color system is standard for most types of color printing, since black is an ink color in printing but is simply the absence of color in video.
   19. 22

       A black dye or pigment.

   20. 23

       A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.

   21. 24

       Black cloth hung up at funerals.

       • Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.
   22. 25

       A member or descendant of any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which…

       A member or descendant of any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.

       • "How! They surely cannot pretend that the black is an Englishman?" "There are all kinds of Englishmen, black and white, when seamen grow scarce. […]"
   23. 26

       Blackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic…

       Blackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups.

       • black don't crack
   24. 27

       The black ball.

   25. 28

       The edge of home plate.

   26. 29

       A type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.

   27. 30

       Blackcurrant syrup or crème de cassis used for cocktails.

       • Pernod and black; snakebite and black; cider and black
   28. 31

       The person playing with the black set of pieces.

       • At this point black makes a disastrous move.
       • 1...Qd3 2 Ne1 Nd2! wins since 3 Nxd3 Rxf1 mate while 3 Qxc7+ Kg6 only delays the end. The best White can do is 3 Qc3+ Qxc3 4 Rxc3 Rxe1 when Black also wins the Bf1 and will be two pieces up.
   29. 32

       Something, or a part of a thing, which is black.

       • the black or sight of the eye
   30. 33

       A stain

       A stain; a spot.

       • defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust
   31. 34

       A dark smut fungus, harmful to wheat.

   32. 35

       Marijuana.

       • He pulled on the black, the tip of the filter hot and malleable between his lips, and felt a cool tingling coat the simmer in his chest and begin to eat away at it in small bites.
   33. 36

       The blackened, burned-out area at the centre of a fire.

       • The black is always the safest place for a firefighter.
       • The black is a safe zone for retreating firefighters. It is an area already burned out by a fire without the raw or dead fuels needed for a fire to feed on.
   34. 37

       To make black

       To make black; to blacken.

       • "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."
       • 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.
       • I saw red, and instead of a cab I fetched that policeman. Of course father did black his eye.
   35. 38

       To apply blacking to (something).

       • […] he must catch, curry, and saddle his own horse; he must black his own brogans (for he will not be able to buy boots).
       • But in a moment he went to Greenidge's bedside, and said, shyly, in a low voice, "Shall I black your boots for you?"
       • 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.
   36. 39

       To boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.

       • The plants were blacked by the Transport and General Workers' Union and a consumer boycott was organised; both activities contributed to what the union saw as a victory.
   37. 40

       A surname transferred from the nickname.

   38. 41

       A number of places in the United States

       A number of places in the United States:

   39. 42

       Alternative letter-case form of black (“of or relating to any of various ethnic groups…

       Alternative letter-case form of black (“of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin”).

       • A group of Black women came in later but only observed from the sidelines.
   40. 43

       Alternative letter-case form of black (“person having dark pigmentation of the skin”).

   41. 44

       The player moving the black pieces.

       • Unless the arbiter decides otherwise, ranks from White to Black shall be given the German numbers.

The neighborhood

• synonymatramental
• synonymatramentous
• synonymblack
• synonymblack as a dog's guts
• synonymblack as coal
• synonymblack as Newgate's knocker
• synonymblack as night
• synonymblack as the ace of spades
• synonymblack as thunder
• synonymcoal black
• synonymebon
• synonyminky
• antonymwhite
• neighborblackamoor
• neighborblackavised
• neighborblackberry
• neighborblackbird
• neighborblacken
• neighborblackness
• neighborforblack
• neighborachromatic
• neighborcolorless
• neighbordark
• neighborblack eye
• neighborshiner