Word Meanings - BLACK - Book Publishers vocabulary database

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

Additional info about word: BLACK

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 , a fish of the West Indies and Florida , with the head and tail yellow, and the middle of the body black. -- Black antimony , the black sulphide of antimony, Sb2S3, used in pyrotechnics, etc. -- Black bear , the common American bear . -- Black beast. See Bête noire. -- Black beetle , the common large cockroach (Blatta orientalis). -- Black and blue, the dark color of a bruise in the flesh, which is accompanied with a mixture of blue. "To pinch the slatterns black and blue." Hudibras. -- Black bonnet , the black-headed bunting (Embriza Schoeniclus) of Europe. -- Black canker, a disease in turnips and other crops, produced by a species of caterpillar. -- Black cat , the fisher, a quadruped of North America allied to the sable, but larger. See Fisher. -- Black cattle, any bovine cattle reared for slaughter, in distinction from dairy cattle. -- Black cherry. See under Cherry. -- Black cockatoo , the palm cockatoo. See Cockatoo. -- Black copper. Same as Melaconite. -- Black currant. See Currant. -- Black diamond. See Carbonado. -- Black draught , a cathartic medicine, composed of senna and magnesia. -- Black drop , vinegar of opium; a narcotic preparation consisting essentially of a solution of opium in vinegar. -- Black earth, mold; earth of a dark color. Woodward. -- Black flag, the flag of a pirate, often bearing in white a skull and crossbones; a signal of defiance. -- Black flea , a flea beetle injurious to turnips. -- Black flux, a mixture of carbonate of potash and charcoal, obtained by deflagrating tartar with half its weight of niter. Brande

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of BLACK)

• Dark
• Black
• dusky
• sable
• swarthy
• opaque
• obscure
• enigmatical
• recondite
• abstruse
• unintelligible
• blind
• ignorant
• besotted
• benighted
• dim
• shadowy
• inexplicable
• secret
• mysterious
• hidden
• murky
• nebulous
• cheerless
• dismal
• gloomy
• sombre
• joyless
• mournful
• sorrowful
• Wicked
• Evil
• bad
• godless
• sinful
• immoral
• iniquitous
• criminal
• unjust
• unrighteous
• irreligious
• profane
• ungodly
• vicious
• atrocious
• black
• dark
• foul
• unhallowed
• nefarious
• naughty
• heinous
• flagitious
• abandoned
• corrupt

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of BLACK)

• Mend
• repair
• purify
• cleanse
• correct
• ameliorate
• better
• Reveal
• make known
• discover

Related words: (words related to BLACK)

• OPAQUENESS
  The state or quality of being impervious to light; opacity. Dr. H. More.
• BLACK LETTER
  The old English or Gothic letter, in which the Early English manuscripts were written, and the first English books were printed. It was conspicuous for its blackness. See Type.
• OBSCURENESS
  Obscurity. Bp. Hall.
• PURIFY
  1. To make pure or clear from material defilement, admixture, or imperfection; to free from extraneous or noxious matter; as, to purify liquors or metals; to purify the blood; to purify the air. 2. Hence, in figurative uses: To free from guilt
• SHADOWY
  1. Full of shade or shadows; causing shade or shadow. "Shadowy verdure." Fenton. This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods. Shak. 2. Hence, dark; obscure; gloomy; dim. "The shadowy past." Longfellow. 3. Not brightly luminous; faintly light. The moon
• CORRECTLY
  In a correct manner; exactly; acurately; without fault or error.
• BLACKEN
  Etym: 1. To make or render black. While the long funerals blacken all the way. Pope 2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud. "Blackened the whole heavens." South. 3. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens
• INEXPLICABLE
  Not explicable; not explainable; incapable of being explained, interpreted, or accounted for; as, an inexplicable mystery. "An inexplicable scratching." Cowper. Their reason is disturbed; their views become vast and perplexed, to others
• MOURNFUL
  Full of sorrow; expressing, or intended to express, sorrow; mourning; grieving; sad; also, causing sorrow; saddening; grievous; as, a mournful person; mournful looks, tones, loss. -- Mourn"ful*ly, adv. -- Mourn"ful*ness, n. Syn. -- Sorrowful;
• OBSCURER
  One who, or that which, obscures.
• CORRUPTIONIST
  One who corrupts, or who upholds corruption. Sydney Smith.
• BESOTTINGLY
  In a besotting manner.
• CORRUPTIBLE
  1. Capable of being made corrupt; subject to decay. "Our corruptible bodies." Hooker. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. 1 Pet. i. 18. 2. Capable of being corrupted, or morally vitiated; susceptible of depravation.
• BLACKWATER STATE
  Nebraska; -- a nickname alluding to the dark color of the water of its rivers, due to the presence of a black vegetable mold in the soil.
• DISMALLY
  In a dismal manner; gloomily; sorrowfully; uncomfortably.
• SECRETE
  To separate from the blood and elaborate by the process of secretion; to elaborate and emit as a secretion. See Secretion. Why one set of cells should secrete bile, another urea, and so on, we do not known. Carpenter. Syn. -- To conceal; hide. See
• GLOOMY
  1. Imperfectly illuminated; dismal through obscurity or darkness; dusky; dim; clouded; as, the cavern was gloomy. "Though hid in gloomiest shade." Milton. 2. Affected with, or expressing, gloom; melancholy; dejected; as, a gloomy temper
• BLINDMAN'S BUFF
  A play in which one person is blindfolded, and tries to catch some one of the company and tell who it is. Surely he fancies I play at blindman's buff with him, for he thinks I never have my eyes open. Stillingfleet.
• BLACK FLAGS
  An organization composed originally of Chinese rebels that had been driven into Tonkin by the suppression of the Taiping rebellion, but later increased by bands of pirates and adventurers. It took a prominent part in fighting the French during their
• OPAQUE
  1. Impervious to the rays of light; not transparent; as, an opaque substance. 2. Obscure; not clear; unintelligible.
• INDECOMPOSABLENESS
  Incapableness of decomposition; stability; permanence; durability.
• UNDERSECRETARY
  A secretary who is subordinate to the chief secretary; an assistant secretary; as, an undersecretary of the Treasury.
• REPLEVISABLE
  Repleviable. Sir M. Hale.
• FRANKFORT BLACK
  . A black pigment used in copperplate printing, prepared by burning vine twigs, the lees of wine, etc. McElrath.
• INDISPENSABLENESS
  The state or quality of being indispensable, or absolutely necessary. S. Clarke.
• CLEANSABLE
  Capable of being cleansed. Sherwood.
• IMPOSABLE
  Capable of being imposed or laid on. Hammond.
• ENIGMATIC; ENIGMATICAL
  Relating to or resembling an enigma; not easily explained or accounted for; darkly expressed; obscure; puzzling; as, an enigmatical answer.
• DISPENSABLE
  1. Capable of being dispensed or administered. 2. Capable of being dispensed with. Coleridge.
• DEMISABLE
  Capable of being leased; as, a demisable estate.