Find the word definition

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
lily-white

early 14c., from lily + white; from 1903 with reference to whites-only segregation; 1964 as "irreproachable."

Wiktionary
lily-white

a. 1 A shade of the color white. 2 Pure, unblemished, immaculate. 3 Innocent, having a reputation beyond reproach. 4 (context slang English) Restricted to Caucasians; pejorative in describing a white person, as are white-bread and paleface.

WordNet
lily-white
  1. adj. restricted to whites only; "under segregation there were even white restrooms and white drinking fountains"; "a lily-white movement which would expel Negroes from the organization" [syn: white]

  2. a pure white color

Usage examples of "lily-white".

Their lily-white banner bore the great hierogram of the Wheel, its inner and outer circles connected by wavy lines.

At the Howard House the man of sin rubbeth the hair of the horse to the bowels of the cat, and our girls are waving their lily-white hoofs in the dazzling waltz.

Eve paused enough to look at the lily-white hand with its baby pink nails that clutched her sleeve.

No one else in the family will put their lily-white hands anywhere near a computer, so he sees me as a default option.

The thing in the bottle, with rose-red gills and a lily-white mantle folded around a thick braid of naked nerve tissue.

It was an excellent divine gift, that gave a deeper pathos to the need, the sin, the sorrow with which it was mingled, as the canker in a lily-white bud is more grievous to behold than in a common pot-herb.