White
Pronunciation
- enPR: wīt, IPA: /waɪt/
- enPR: hwÄ«t, IPA: /Êaɪt/ Ireland, in Scottish English and some English accents
- Rhymes: -aɪt
- Homophones: wight (in accents with the wine-whine merger), wite in accents with the wine-whine merger
Origin
From Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwÄ«t, from Proto-Germanic *hwÄ«taz (whence also West Frisian wyt, Dutch wit, German weiß, Norwegian hvit), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweytos ("bright; shine"). Compare Lithuanian Å¡viẽsti ("to gleam"), Å¡viesa ("light"), Old Church Slavonic Ñвѣтъ (svÄ›tÅ, "light"), Ñвѣтьлъ (svÄ›tÄlÅ, "clear, bright"), Albanian vizull (" shine"), Avestan spaÄ“ta ("white"), Sanskrit शà¥à¤µà¥‡à¤¤ (Å›vetá, "white, bright").
Full definition of white
Adjective
white
- Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.Write in black ink on white paper.
- Longfellowwhite as the whitest lily on a stream.
- Of the Caucasian race.
- (chiefly historical) Designated for use by Caucasians.white drinking fountain; white hospital
- Relatively light or pale in colour.white wine; white grapes
- Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
- ByronOr whispering with white lips, "The foe!
They come! they come!" - (of coffee) Containing cream, milk, or creamer.
- (board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.The white pieces in this set are in fact made of light green glass.
- Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XIII:at the fourthe day aftir evynsonge he com to a whyght abbay; and there was he resceyved with grete reverence ....
- Honourable, fair; decent.
- DrydenWhite as thy fame, and as thy honour clear.
- Alexander PopeNo whiter page than Addison's remains.
- 1901, Hamlin Garland, Her Mountain Lover, “I’ll put you down at my club; and then, the governor will want to see you in the country.â€
Jim had no idea of what was involved in being put down at a club, but he consented. “That ’s mighty white of you, old man, but I don’t know where I shall make down.†- 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin 2010, p. 12:‘We've only met twice and you've been more than white to me both times.’
- (of a person or skin) Lacking coloration from ultraviolet light.
- Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.
- ShakespeareYour high engendered battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. - (archaic) Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.
- Sir Walter ScottOn the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life.
- (obsolete) Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.
- ChaucerCome forth, my white spouse.
- FordI am his white boy, and will not be gulled.
- (politics) Pertaining to constitutional or anti-revolutionary political parties or movements.
- 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society 2010, p. 163:Aimée de Coigny had always adopted with enthusiasm the political views of her ruling lover and she had thus already held nearly every shade of opinion from red republicanism to white reaction.
Antonyms
Noun
white
(plural whites)- The color/colour of snow or milk; the colour of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
- A Caucasian person.
- The albumen of bird eggs (egg white).
- (anatomy) The sclera, white of the eye.
- Any butterfly of the Pieris genus.
- (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The cue ball in cue games.
- (countable and uncountable) White wine.
- (slang) Street name for cocaine.
- (archery) The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.
- Shakespeare'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white.
- A white pigment.Venice white