What is "black maria"

Black Maria \Black" Ma*ri"a\ a paddy wagon.

Syn: patrol wagon, paddy wagon. [PJC]

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.

n. (context slang English) A police van for transporting prisoners.

1. n. van used by police to transport prisoners [syn: police van, police wagon, paddy wagon, patrol wagon, wagon]

2. a form of whist in which players avoid winning tricks containing hearts of the queen of spades [syn: hearts]

Black Maria may refer to:

• Black Maria, a slang term for a police van used to transport prisoners, originally these were horse drawn and so could take some time to arrive at a crime scene. “Black Maria” was a famous racehorse of the day, born in Harlem USA in 1826. The name was sardonically applied to the police carriages (which were also usually colored black).
• Edison's Black Maria, a film studio created by Thomas Edison

Black Maria (1923–1932) was an American Thoroughbred racing filly who earned national Champion honors three times. Bred in Kentucky by William R. Coe, she was sired by Black Toney, the great foundation stallion of Idle Hour Stock Farm. Her dam was Bird Loose, a daughter of the French stallion Sardanapale, a two-time Leading sire in France who won the 1914 Prix du Jockey Club and, at the time France's most important race, the Grand Prix de Paris.

Black Maria (1923-32) raced as a two-year-old and won but did not claim victory in any of the top races for her age group. A filly who regularly raced against male horses, after winning the Kentucky Oaks for fillies, she defeated males in the Saratoga Sales Stakes and the Aqueduct Handicap. Her performances at age three earned her American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly honors. Black Maria was voted the 1927 and 1928 American Champion Older Female Horse, highlighted by her defeat of males in the preeminent race on the U.S. East Coast for milers, the Metropolitan Handicap in a performance that made the New York Times call her "a great race mare." At age five, she beat her male counterparts again to win the Whitney Handicap.

In 1932, Black Maria suffered a broken leg as a result of a paddock accident and was humanely destroyed.

She was named after an earlier world famous black racehorse, the second element of whose name was pronounced /məˈraɪə/ (ma-rye-ah) in accordance with the traditional English pronunciation of Latin and Latin-based names always used at that time. The first Black Maria was foaled in Harlem, New York in 1826. She won so many races her purse winnings alone amounted to nearly $15,000, a very large sum for the period. Her most famous exploit occurred on the 13th of October in 1832 when she won the race for the Jockey Club purse of $600 at the Union Course. In 1870, an article about her in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine said: “The track was heavy, and yet, to achieve a victory, twenty miles had to be run. We wonder if there is a horse on the turf to-day that could stand up under such a performance as this?."

Her speed was implied in the nickname given to horse-drawn black (or dark blue) police prisoner vans of the period, swiftly whisking felons away from the scene of a crime. This name for a police van was adopted in Britain and even France where a similar term was already in use.