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purple

noun
/ˈpɜː.pl̩/UK/ˈpɝ.pl̩/US/ˈpøːpl̩/

Etymology

From Middle English purple, purpel, from Old English purpul (“purple”, adjective), taken from Old English purpure (“purple colour”, noun), from Latin purpura (“purple dye, shellfish”), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple-fish”), perhaps of Semitic origin. Doublet of purpura and purpure. The sense of "imperial power" is from the wearing of the color purple by emperors and kings.

  1. derived from πορφύρα — “purple-fish”
  2. derived from purpura — “purple dye, shellfish”
  3. derived from purpure — “purple colour”
  4. inherited from purpul — “purple”
  5. inherited from purple

Definitions

  1. A colour between red and blue

    A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta.

    • Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold / The Clouds that on his Weſtern Throne attend.

  2. Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a…

    Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a colour wheel between violet and red.

  3. Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour

    Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple robe or mantle worn by Ancient Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity.

    • to put on the imperial purple
    • Thy head as Carmelus: and the heares of thy head as a kings purple tyed to cundite pipes.
  4. ›+ 20 more definitions

    1. Imperial power.

      • 1776-1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire He was born in the purple.
      • When we picture to ourselves his [Napoleon’s] dawning military genius at Toulon—his daring and decided politics in the storms of the Revolution—his Cæsarian ambition in assuming the purple—[…]
      • The immediate successors of Augustus indulged in appalling cruelties towards senators and towards possible competitors for the purple.

    2. Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially…

      Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk.

    3. The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with…

      The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana.

      • "Sure, some purple Owlsley."
      • “Purple smoke is no joke. Especially when it is real purple. The smell, taste, and high is easily one of the best in the world. One bowl of some purple Kush, and I'm done for a couple of hours.
      • She preferred to smoke some good purple, but getting high wasn't an option.

    4. Purpura.

    5. Earcockle, a disease of wheat.

    6. Any of the species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus…

      Any of the species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis).

      • the banded purple

    7. A cardinalate.

    8. Ellipsis of purple drank.

      • Fishtailing out the parking lot leaving Magic / Sipping on the purple and the yellow, drinking magic

    9. Synonym of snakebite and black.

    10. Of a purple hue.

    11. Not predominantly red or blue, but having a mixture of Democrat and Republican support.

      • purple state
      • purple city

    12. Mixed between social democrats and liberals.

    13. Imperial

      Imperial; regal.

      • Grovel on the earth: aye, hide / In the dust thy purple pride!

    14. Blood-red

      Blood-red; bloody.

      • O may ſuch purple teares be alway ſhed
      • Wars, horrid Wars I view; a field of Blood; / And Tyber rolling with a Purple Flood.

    15. Of language, extravagantly ornate, like purple prose.

      • Near-synonyms: flowery, overwrought
      • A writer who has made a career of churning out thick novels may be expected to write too quickly to notice that patches of her writing are unbearably purple.

    16. Of a sector, lap, etc., completed in the fastest time so far in a given session.

    17. To turn purple in colour.

      • [T]he Capri cliffs, the tops of which were still pink against the purpling sky.
      • The gang leader purpled and raised his gun.

    18. To dye purple.

      • Year after year unto her feet, / She lying on her couch alone, / Across the purpled coverlet, / The maiden's jet-black hair has grown, […]

    19. To clothe in purple.

    20. A surname from Middle English.

The neighborhood

Derived

American purple gallinule, aniline purple, bee purple, bepurple, blurple, born in the purple, born to the purple, bromcresol purple, bromocresol purple, Chinese purple, common purple-glossed snake, early-purple orchid, empurple, flying purple people-eater, flying purple people eater, French purple, Han purple, impurple, line of purples, liseran purple, Okinawan purple potato, once in a purple moon, palatinate purple, Perkin's purple, purple airway, purple-backed fairywren, purple-backed sunbeam, purple-backed thornbill, purple bacteria, purple-banded sunbird, purple bar, purple-bearded bee-eater, Celebes bee-eater, purple beech, purple-bellied lory, purple bird, purple box, purple-breasted cotinga, purple-breasted sunbird, purple-capped fruit dove · +130 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at purple. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01purple02violet03viola04pansies05pansy

A definitional loop anchored at purple. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

5 hops · closes at purple

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA