What is "black"

Black \Black\, adv. Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce blackness.

Black \Black\, n.

1. 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.

   Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night.
   --Shak.

2. A black pigment or dye.

3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain African races.

4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black; pl. (Obs.) Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery.

   Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like show death terrible.
   --Bacon.

   That was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers.
   --Sir T. North.

5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black.

   The black or sight of the eye.
   --Sir K. Digby.

6. A stain; a spot; a smooch.

   Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust.
   --Rowley.

   Black and white, writing or print; as, I must have that statement in black and white.

   Blue black, a pigment of a blue black color.

   Ivory black, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing.

   Berlin black. See under Berlin.

Black \Black\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blacked; p. pr. & vb. n. Blacking.] [See Black, a., and cf. Blacken.]

1. To make black; to blacken; to soil; to sully.

   They have their teeth blacked, both men and women, for they say a dog hath his teeth white, therefore they will black theirs.
   --Hakluyt.

   Sins which black thy soul.
   --J. Fletcher.

2. To make black and shining, as boots or a stove, by applying blacking and then polishing with a brush.

Black \Black\ (bl[a^]k), a. [OE. blak, AS. bl[ae]c; akin to Icel. blakkr dark, swarthy, Sw. bl["a]ck ink, Dan. bl[ae]k, OHG. blach, LG. & D. blaken to burn with a black smoke. Not akin to AS. bl[=a]c, E. bleak pallid. [root]98.]

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 (Zo["o]l.), a fish of the West Indies and Florida ( Holacanthus tricolor), with the head and tail yellow, and the middle of the body black.

   Black antimony (Chem.), the black sulphide of antimony, Sb2S3, used in pyrotechnics, etc.

   Black bear (Zo["o]l.), the common American bear ( Ursus Americanus).

   Black beast. See B[^e]te noire.

   Black beetle (Zo["o]l.), the common large cockroach ( Blatta orientalis).

   Black bonnet (Zo["o]l.), the black-headed bunting ( Embriza Sch[oe]niclus) of Europe.

   Black canker, a disease in turnips and other crops, produced by a species of caterpillar.

   Black cat (Zo["o]l.), 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. [Eng.]

   Black cherry. See under Cherry.

   Black cockatoo (Zo["o]l.), the palm cockatoo. See Cockatoo.

   Black copper. Same as Melaconite.

   Black currant. (Bot.) See Currant.

   Black diamond. (Min.) See Carbonado.

   Black draught (Med.), a cathartic medicine, composed of senna and magnesia.

   Black drop (Med.), 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 (Zo["o]l.), a flea beetle ( Haltica nemorum) injurious to turnips.

   Black flux, a mixture of carbonate of potash and charcoal, obtained by deflagrating tartar with half its weight of niter.
   --Brande & C.

   Black Forest [a translation of G. Schwarzwald], a forest in Baden and W["u]rtemburg, in Germany; a part of the ancient Hercynian forest.

   Black game, or Black grouse. (Zo["o]l.) See Blackcock, Grouse, and Heath grouse.

   Black grass (Bot.), a grasslike rush of the species Juncus Gerardi, growing on salt marshes, and making good hay.

   Black gum (Bot.), an American tree, the tupelo or pepperidge. See Tupelo.

   Black Hamburg (grape) (Bot.), a sweet and juicy variety of dark purple or ``black'' grape.

   Black horse (Zo["o]l.), a fish of the Mississippi valley ( Cycleptus elongatus), of the sucker family; the Missouri sucker.

   Black lemur (Zo["o]l.), the Lemurniger of Madagascar; the acoumbo of the natives.

   Black list, a list of persons who are for some reason thought deserving of censure or punishment; -- esp. a list of persons stigmatized as insolvent or untrustworthy, made for the protection of tradesmen or employers. See Blacklist, v. t.

   Black manganese (Chem.), the black oxide of manganese, MnO2.

   Black Maria, the close wagon in which prisoners are carried to or from jail.

   Black martin (Zo["o]l.), the chimney swift. See Swift.

   Black moss (Bot.), the common so-called long moss of the southern United States. See Tillandsia.

   Black oak. See under Oak.

   Black ocher. See Wad.

   Black pigment, a very fine, light carbonaceous substance, or lampblack, prepared chiefly for the manufacture of printers' ink. It is obtained by burning common coal tar.

   Black plate, sheet iron before it is tinned.
   --Knight.

   Black quarter, malignant anthrax with engorgement of a shoulder or quarter, etc., as of an ox.

   Black rat (Zo["o]l.), one of the species of rats ( Mus rattus), commonly infesting houses.

   Black rent. See Blackmail, n., 3.

   Black rust, a disease of wheat, in which a black, moist matter is deposited in the fissures of the grain.

   Black sheep, one in a family or company who is unlike the rest, and makes trouble.

   Black silver. (Min.) See under Silver.

   Black and tan, black mixed or spotted with tan color or reddish brown; -- used in describing certain breeds of dogs.

   Black tea. See under Tea.

   Black tin (Mining), tin ore (cassiterite), when dressed, stamped and washed, ready for smelting. It is in the form of a black powder, like fine sand.
   --Knight.

   Black walnut. See under Walnut.

   Black warrior (Zo["o]l.), an American hawk ( Buteo Harlani).

   Syn: Dark; murky; pitchy; inky; somber; dusky; gloomy; swart; Cimmerian; ebon; atrocious.

Old English blæc "dark," from Proto-Germanic *blakaz "burned" (cognates: Old Norse blakkr "dark," Old High German blah "black," Swedish bläck "ink," Dutch blaken "to burn"), from PIE *bhleg- "to burn, gleam, shine, flash" (cognates: Greek phlegein "to burn, scorch," Latin flagrare "to blaze, glow, burn"), from root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn;" see bleach (v.).\n

\nThe same root produced Old English blac "bright, shining, glittering, pale;" the connecting notions being, perhaps, "fire" (bright) and "burned" (dark). The usual Old English word for "black" was sweart (see swart). According to OED: "In ME. it is often doubtful whether blac, blak, blake, means 'black, dark,' or 'pale, colourless, wan, livid.' " Used of dark-skinned people in Old English.\n

\nOf coffee, first attested 1796. Meaning "fierce, terrible, wicked" is late 14c. The color of sin and sorrow since at least c.1300; sense of "with dark purposes, malignant" emerged 1580s (as in black magic). Black face in reference to a performance style originated in U.S., is from 1868. Black flag, flown (especially by pirates) as a signal of "no mercy," from 1590s. Black dog "melancholy" attested from 1826. Black belt is from 1875 in reference to districts of the U.S. South with heaviest African population; 1870 with reference to fertility of soil; 1913 in judo sense. Black power is from 1966, associated with Stokely Carmichael.

c.1200, "to become black;" early 14c., "to make black, darken;" from black (adj.). Related: Blacked; blacking.

Old English blæc "the color black," also "ink," from noun use of black (adj.). From late 14c. as "dark spot in the pupil of the eye." The meaning "black person, African" is from 1620s (perhaps late 13c., and blackamoor is from 1540s). To be in the black (1922) is from the accounting practice of recording credits and balances in black ink.\n\nFor years it has been a common practice to use red ink instead of black in showing a loss or deficit on corporate books, but not until the heavy losses of 1921 did the contrast in colors come to have a widely understood meaning.

["Saturday Evening Post," July 22, 1922]

1. 1 (context of an object English) Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless. 2 (context of a place, etc English) Without light. 3 (context sometimes capitalized English) Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin. n. 1 The colour/color perceived in the absence of light. 2 A black dye or pigment. 3 A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment. 4 (context in the plural English) Black cloth hung up at funerals. 5 (context sometimes capitalised English) A person of African, Aborigine, or Maori descent; a dark-skinned person. 6 (context billiards snooker pool with ''the'' English) The black ball. 7 (context baseball English) The edge of home plate 8 (context British English) a type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour. 9 (context informal English) blackcurrant syrup (in mixed drinks, e.g. snakebite and black, cider and black). 10 In chess and similar games, the person playing with the black set of pieces. 11 Part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. 12 (context obsolete English) A stain; a spot. v

2. To make black, to blacken.

v. make or become black; "The smoke blackened the ceiling"; "The ceiling blackened" [syn: blacken, melanize, melanise, nigrify] [ant: whiten]

1. adj. being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light; "black leather jackets"; "as black as coal"; "rich black soil" [syn: achromatic] [ant: white]

2. of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin; "a great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization"- Martin Luther King Jr. [ant: white]

3. marked by anger or resentment or hostility; "black looks"; "black words"

4. stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable; "black deeds"; "a black lie"; "his black heart has concocted yet another black deed"; "Darth Vader of the dark side"; "a dark purpose"; "dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility"; "the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"-Thomas Hardy [syn: dark, sinister]

5. offering little or no hope; "the future looked black"; "prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a dim view of things" [syn: bleak, dim]

6. (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin; "the stock market crashed on Black Friday"; "a calamitous defeat"; "the battle was a disastrous end to a disastrous campaign"; "such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory"- Charles Darwin; "it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it"- Douglas MacArthur; "a fateful error" [syn: calamitous, disastrous, fatal, fateful]

7. (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood; "a face black with fury" [syn: blackened]

8. extremely dark; "a black moonless night"; "through the pitch-black woods"; "it was pitch-dark in the celler" [syn: pitch-black, pitch-dark]

9. harshly ironic or sinister; "black humor"; "a grim joke"; "grim laughter"; "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit" [syn: grim, mordant]

10. (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading; "black propaganda"

11. distributed or sold illicitly; "the black economy pays no taxes" [syn: bootleg, black-market, contraband, smuggled]

12. (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame; "Man...has written one of his blackest records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands"- Rachel Carson; "an ignominious retreat"; "inglorious defeat"; "an opprobrious monument to human greed"; "a shameful display of cowardice" [syn: disgraceful, ignominious, inglorious, opprobrious, shameful]

13. (of coffee) without cream or sugar

14. dressed in black; "a black knight"; "black friars"

15. soiled with dirt or soot; "with feet black from playing outdoors"; "his shirt was black within an hour"

1. n. the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white) [syn: blackness] [ant: white]

2. total absence of light; "they fumbled around in total darkness"; "in the black of night" [syn: total darkness, lightlessness, blackness, pitch blackness]

3. British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799) [syn: Joseph Black]

4. popular child actress of the 1930's (born 1927) [syn: Shirley Temple Black, Shirley Temple]

5. a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa) [syn: Black person, blackamoor, Negro, Negroid]

6. (board games) the darker pieces [ant: white]

7. black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning); "the widow wore black"

Black is both a color and the absence of color.

Black may also refer to:

Black is the darkest color, the result of the absence or complete absorption of light. Like white and grey, it is an achromatic color, literally a color without hue. It is one of the four primary colors in the CMYK color model, along with cyan, yellow, and magenta, used in color printing to produce all the other colors. Black is often used to represent darkness; it is the symbolic opposite of white (or brightness).

Black was one of the first colors used by artists in neolithic cave paintings. In the 14th century, it began to be worn by royalty, the clergy, judges and government officials in much of Europe. It became the color worn by English romantic poets, businessmen and statesmen in the 19th century, and a high fashion color in the 20th century.

In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches and magic. According to surveys in Europe and North America, it is the color most commonly associated with mourning, the end, secrets, magic, force, violence, evil, and elegance.

Black is a surname which can be of either English, Scottish, Irish or French origin. In the cases of non-English origin, the surname is likely to be an Anglicisation. Notable persons with that surname include:

Colin Vearncombe (26 May 1962 – 26 January 2016), known by his stage name Black, was an English singer-songwriter. He emerged from the punk rock music scene and achieved mainstream pop success in the late 1980s, most notably with the international hit single " Wonderful Life" in 1987.

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic described Vearncombe as a "smoky-voiced singer/songwriter, whose sophisticated jazz-pop songs and dramatic vocal delivery place him somewhere between Bryan Ferry and Morrissey". Michael Hann of The Guardian described his voice as a "slightly frayed baritone".

Black is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts. It was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox video game consoles. The game is notable for its heavily stylized cinema-inspired action as well as its award winning sound quality and focus on destructive effects during gameplay. Black has been said as having the best graphics for a first person shooter for its time.

Black is a small lunar crater that lies just to the southeast of the walled basin Kästner. To the south-southwest is the crater Ansgarius, and to the east is the small Dale. It is located near the eastern limb of the Moon, just to the southwest of the Mare Smythii.

Black is circular with a well-defined edge, and inner walls that slope down to a small interior floor. It is not notably marked by erosion or impacts. The northwest wall is separated from the rim of Kästner by less than one crater diameter. This crater was formerly designated Kästner F before it was named by the IAU.

"Black" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. The song is the fifth track on the band's debut album, Ten (1991). Featuring lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Stone Gossard, "Black" is a soliloquy by a broken-hearted man, who is remembering his absent lover.

After Ten became a commercial success in 1992, Pearl Jam's record label Epic Records urged the group to release the song as a single. The band refused, citing the song's personal nature. Despite the lack of a commercial single release, the song managed to reach number three on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Remixed versions of the song were included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, Rearviewmirror, and the 2009 Ten reissue.

Black is a Bangladeshi rock band, formed in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Black is a full-length play by Joyce Carol Oates first published in Twelve Plays ( 1991) and reprinted in The Perfectionist and Other Plays ( 1995). Together with I Stand Before You Naked, Tone Clusters, Ontological Proof of My Existence and Bad Girls, Black is one of Oates's most frequently performed plays. The prose version of Black appeared in Witness in 1989. A revised version of the play with the title Cry Me a River was first performed in 1997.

Black is Lita Ford's sixth studio album and featured a change of style in her music, compared to her other albums. Black sees Ford move into other musical styles such as blues and grunge, while still maintaining her metal and rock roots. There would be a 14-year gap between Black and her next studio album, 2009's Wicked Wonderland.

Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and it is not uncommon to mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black.

True black horses have dark brown eyes, black skin, and wholly black hair coats without any areas of permanently reddish or brownish hair. They may have pink skin beneath any white markings under the areas of white hair, and if such white markings include one or both eyes, the eyes may be blue. Many black horses "sun bleach" with exposure to the elements and sweat, and therefore their coats may lose some of their rich black character and may even resemble bay or seal brown, though examination of the color of hair around the eyes, muzzle and genitals often will determine color. Black horses that do not sun bleach are called "non-fading" or "sheer" blacks.

Some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois (or Merens) are almost exclusively black. Black is also common in the Fell pony, Dales pony, Ostfriesen and Alt-Oldenburger, Kladruber, and Groningen.

Black: The Birth of Evil is a novel written by author Ted Dekker. It is the first book in the Circle Series, and is a part of the Books of History Chronicles.

According to IMDb.com, Ted Dekker has writing credits to a movie version of Black for 2016 release.

The C.H. Black Manufacturing Company built the Black phaetons, dos-à-dos and business waggons in 2½ to 8 HP models in Indianapolis, Indiana, from 1896-1900. There is some evidence that they built a vehicle as early as 1891. In 1900, the company sold its patents for $20,000.

Black is a 2008 French blaxploitation film directed by Pierre Laffargue.

Black is a self-titled album by Black, the musical vehicle of Colin Vearncombe. It is a retrospective album released in 1987 by Black's former label Warner Music Group after his commercial breakthrough with the album Wonderful Life (on A&M Records) and comprises several singles recorded while Vearncombe was signed to Warner.

Black: The Man From Darkness is a 2004 Indian Malayalam crime thriller film written and directed by Ranjith, and produced by Lal. It deals with the underworld operations in Kochi. Mammootty plays the role of Police Constable Karikkamuri Shanmugham, who ironically is a hit man and a contract killer. The film features cinematography by Amal Neerad. The film was a comeback for actor Rahman to Malayalam cinema.

"Black" is the debut single by Sevendust and lead single from their self-titled debut album. Released in 1998, the song is said to be about racism. "Black" is a fan favorite song and was included on their Best of (Chapter One 1997-2004). Live, acoustic versions were also included on the Seasons limited edition DVD and the band's first live album, Southside Double-Wide: Acoustic Live, in 2004. Black is on the Swimfan soundtrack and video game Test Drive Off-Road 2. It was the opening song for almost every Sevendust concert until 2004. Black is ranked No.47 in Hit Parader's 100 heavy metal top songs all-time.

Black (Hindi: ब्लैक) is a 2005 Indian drama filmdirected by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starred by Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan. Black revolves around a blind and deaf girl, and her relationship with her teacher who himself later develops Alzheimer's disease. The film draws inspiration from Helen Keller's life and struggle.

The film was screened at the Casablanca Film Festival and the International Film Festival of India. It won the Filmfare Award for best film. Time Magazine (Europe) selected the film as one of the 10 Best Movies of the Year 2005 from around the globe. The movie was positioned at number five. Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the 25 Must See Bollywood Films. The film was premiered in the Marché du Film section of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Amitabh Bachchan received his second National Film Award for Best Actor at the 53rd National Film Awards and his fourth Filmfare Award for Best Actor for his performance and Rani Mukerji won her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

A remake of this film was produced in Turkey in 2013 titled Benim Dünyam.

Black is the second studio release by Canadian Industrial artist Maqlu. The EP was released on October 31, 2010 via online music retailers such as iTunes, as with Maqlu's first EP, Blood.

Black hit the charts at several college radio stations across Canada, most notably hitting #6 on !earshot's national electronic chart for the week of November 23, 2010 and ChartAttack's electronic chart for the week of November 30, 2010 at #8.

The single from Black, "Whore," was featured as the Indie Track of the Day on ExploreMusic for November 16, 2010.

Black is the self tiled fourth studio album by Bangladeshi rock band Black. In 2009 Black announced on their official Facebook page that they had started to work on their fourth studio album and it would be a self-titled album. Work on the album properly started after Rafiqul Ahsan Titu (ex-Aashor) joined the band as the permanent bass player after Shahriar Shagor left the band. Black stated, they had plans to release the album on the Eid-ul-Azha of 2010, but due to other commitments of the band members and tight scheduling they were unable to succeed. After a few more changes of speculated release dates the band finally announced the official release date, August 21, 2011. According to the band, the album contains the heaviest possible music they have yet made. The first single off the album was "Aajo...", it's music video premiered at YouTube on September 2011.

Black is a 2013 album by the German Electro-industrial band Project Pitchfork. It is their 16th studio album and was released in multiple formats, including a double-disc deluxe version, featuring two b-sides and three remixes. The song "Rain" was released as a music video to promote the record.

The Black Code was a US secret code used by US military attachés in the early period of World War II prior to the entry of the United States. The name derived from the colour of the superencipherment tables/ codebook binding. The code was compromised by Axis intelligence, the information leak costing a great many British lives.

Black is an Indo-Bangla Bengali crime action film directed by Raja Chanda, and stars Soham Chakraborty and Bidya Sinha Mim in lead roles. The film was jointly produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Dag Creative Media and was released on 27 November 2015. The film revolves around a man named, Biltu, who takes vengeance to those who framed his father (a police officer) with false charges and as a result the latter commits suicide to get rid of this humiliation.

Black is a 2015 Belgian drama film directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. It premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was screened in the Discovery section.

The plot line is influenced by William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and Arthur Laurent's West Side Story but relocates the story to street gangs in modern day Brussels, Belgium.

Black is the eighth studio album by American country music artist Dierks Bentley. It was released on May 27, 2016, by Capitol Nashville. The lead single, " Somewhere on a Beach", was released to radio on January 18, 2016. The album's second single, " Different for Girls" (featuring Elle King), was released to country radio on June 6, 2016.

"Black" is the first episode of the paranormal drama television series Supernaturals season 10, and the 196th overall. The episode was written by showrunner Jeremy Carver and directed by executive producer Robert Singer. It was first broadcast on October 7, 2014 on The CW. In the episode, Sam begins looking for Dean and Crowley after discovered Dean returned to life as a demon. Meanwhile, Castiel is dealing with his dying grace while Hannah asks him for help in a mission.

The episode received critical acclaim, with critics praising the new character development for Dean.