black
/blæk/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms blacker blackest blacks blacking blacked blacke blk blak
- adjective (of an object) Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless. “The items around him were black in colour.”
- adjective (of a location or setting) Without light.
- adjective (sometimes capitalized) 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.)
- adjective (US, UK, South Africa) Belonging to or descended from any of various sub-Saharan African ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
- adjective (chiefly historical) Designated for use by those ethnic groups (as described above). “black drinking fountain; black hospital”
- adjective (card games, of a card) Of the spades or clubs suits. “I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.”
- adjective Bad; evil; ill-omened. “black magic”
- adjective Expressing menace or discontent; threatening; sullen. “He shot her a black look.”
- noun (countable and uncountable) The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.
- noun (countable and uncountable) A black dye or pigment.
- noun (countable) A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
- noun (in the plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.
- noun (countable, sometimes capitalised, often offensive) A member or descendant of any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
- noun (uncountable, informal) Blackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups. “black don't crack”
- noun (countable, billiards, snooker, pool) The black ball.
- noun (countable, baseball) The edge of home plate.
- verb (transitive) To make black; to blacken.
- verb (transitive) To apply blacking to (something).
- verb (UK, transitive) To boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
- proper noun A surname transferred from the nickname.
Synonyms
dark swart gloomy adumbral blear caliginous cimmerian crepuscular darksome darkling dim dimpsy dingy dull dusky fuliginous infernal leaden lightless mirksome blackness inkiness total darkness lightlessness pitch blackness Joseph Black Shirley Temple Black Shirley Temple Black person blackamoor
Antonyms
white light bright illuminated lit achromatic clear colorless pale whiteness
Etymology
From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”).
See also Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”); also compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”).
Adjective sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).
From Middle English blak (“black”). Also a variant of Blake, from Old English blāc (“pale”) and Blanc, from Old French blanc (“white”).
Capitalized to follow the usual capitalization patterns for ethnic groups (compare e.g. Hispanic, Arab), and also, perhaps, as a way to explicitly distinguish it from the color sense, which is not capitalized outside proper nouns.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a color; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes.
- adjective In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the heavens black with clouds.
- adverb Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce blackness.
- noun That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black.
Etymology [OE. blak, AS. blæc; akin to Icel. blakkr dark, swarthy, Sw. bläck ink, Dan. blæk, OHG. blach, LG. & D. blaken to burn with a black smoke. Not akin to AS. blac, E. bleak pallid. 1. Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a color; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes. O night, with hue so black! Shak. 2. In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the heavens black with clouds. I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud. Shak. 3. Fig.: Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked; cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. "This day's black fate." "Black villainy." "Arise, black vengeance." "Black day." "Black despair." Shak. 4. Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen; foreboding; as, to regard one with black looks. Note: Black is often used in self-explaining compound words; as, black-eyed, black-faced, black-haired, black-visaged. Black act, the English statute 9 George I, which makes it a felony to appear armed in any park or warren, etc., or to hunt or steal deer, etc., with the face blackened or disguised. Subsequent acts inflicting heavy penalties for malicious injuries to cattle and machinery have been called black acts. -- Black angel (Zoöl.), a fish of the West Indies and Florida (Holacanthus tricolor), with the head and tail]
Etymology [See Black, a., and cf. Blacken.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “black”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details