/blæk/
OriginFrom Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”).
See also Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”); also compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”).
Adjective sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).
- Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
“The items around him were black in colour.”
“The scandal of a lie is in a manner lost and annihilated when diffused among several thousands; as a drop of the blackest tincture wears away and vanishes when mixed and confused in a considerable bod”
- Without light.
- capitalized, sometimesBelonging to or descended from any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc.) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin. (See usage notes below.)
“Somebody tell me, what can I do / Something is holding me back / Is it because I'm black?”
“I believed that a huge injustice had been perpetrated for hundreds of years on every black man, woman, and child in the United States.”
“I am a young, light-skinned black woman, and truer words were never written of the problem we light-skinned blacks have had to live with. The article explains in-depth what it's like.”
- South-Africa, UK, US, capitalized, sometimesBelonging to or descended from any of various sub-Saharan African ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.
- historicalDesignated for use by those ethnic groups (as described above).
“black drinking fountain; black hospital”
- Of the spades or clubs suits.
“I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.”
- Bad; evil; ill-omened.
“black magic”
“[…] what a black day would that be, when the Ordinances of Jesus Christ should as it were be excommunicated, and cast out of the Church of Christ.”
“Nor were there wanting some, who, after the departure of Jenny, insinuated that she was spirited away with a design too black to be mentioned, and who gave frequent hints that a legal inquiry ought to”
- Expressing menace or discontent; threatening; sullen.
“He shot her a black look.”
“The lassie had grace given her to refuse, but with a woeful heart, and Heriotside rode off in black discontent, leaving poor Ailie to sigh her love. He came back the next day and the next, but aye he ”
“We see the impression that the perils of these unknown seas made on Minoan art in a clay seal impression that comes from Knossos. A sea monster, with head and jaws like a dog's, is rising from the wav”
- Illegitimate, illegal, or disgraced.
“Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the black market was flourishing.”
- Foul; dirty, soiled.
“Then trip him, that his heeles may kicke at Heauen, / And that his Soule may be as damn'd aud blacke / As Hell, whereto it goes.”
- Ireland, informalOvercrowded.
- Without any cream, milk, or creamer.
“Jim drinks his coffee black, but Ellen prefers it with creamer.”
- Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess, the set used by the player who moves second) (often regardless of the pieces' actual colour).
“The black pieces in this chess set are made of dark blue glass.”
“Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks.”
- Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color.
“Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ (“WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX”); ☛ (“BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX”).”
- Of or pertaining to anarchism; anarchist.
- GermanRelated to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.
“After the election, the parties united in a black-yellow alliance.”
- Clandestine; relating to a political, military, or espionage operation or site, the existence or details of which is withheld from the general public.
“5 percent of the Defense Department funding will go to black projects.”
“black operations/black ops; black room; black site”
- Occult; relating to something (such as mystical or magical knowledge) which is unknown to or kept secret from the general public.
“Pope Joan, who once occupied the throne of the Vatican, was reputed to be the blackest sorcerer of them all.”
“But a hel-rúne was one who knew secret black knowledge – and the association of hell with the dead shows that the gloss in O.H.G. 'necromancia' is very close.”
- Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc.) that is dark (or black).
“the black knight; black bile”
- especiallyDark in comparison to another species with the same base name.
“black birch; black locust; black rhino”
- Singapore, SinglishSullen and solemn; bad-tempered and unhappy.
“They gave up trying to talk to me. Ever since I gave them that big scolding. But every time they see me, all face black black.”
- alt-of, not-comparableAlternative letter-case form of black (“of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin”).
“It contained an article written by Lacy Banko summarizing the work of Dr. Herbert Hendin, who had done a comparative study on suicide among Black people in the major American cities. Dr. Hendin found ”
“A group of Black women came in later but only observed from the sidelines.”
“Buried among the jargon of the announcement was a mention of a name for AAVE, suggested by a Black scholar in 1975^([sic]) but never adopted by linguists: Ebonics. That word, concocted from ebony (a c”
- countable, uncountableThe colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.
“Black is the badge of hell, / The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night.”
“CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This four component color system is standard for most types of color printing, since black is an ink color in printing but is simply the absence of co”
- countable, uncountableA black dye or pigment.
- countableA pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
- countable, in-plural, uncountableBlack cloth hung up at funerals.
“Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.”
- informal, uncountableBlackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups.
- countableThe black ball.
- countableThe edge of home plate.
- British, countableA type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
- abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, informalEllipsis of blackcurrant.
“Pernod and black; snakebite and black; cider and black”
- UK, countable, informal, uncountableBlackcurrant as syrup or crème de cassis used for cocktails.
- countableThe person playing with the black set of pieces.
“At this point black makes a disastrous move.”
“1...Qd3 2 Ne1 Nd2! wins since 3 Nxd3 Rxf1 mate while 3 Qxc7+ Kg6 only delays the end. The best White can do is 3 Qc3+ Qxc3 4 Rxc3 Rxe1 when Black also wins the Bf1 and will be two pieces up.”
- countableSomething, or a part of a thing, which is black.
“the black or sight of the eye”
- countable, obsoleteA stain; a spot.
“defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust”
- countable, uncountableA dark smut fungus, harmful to wheat.
- US, countable, slang, uncountableMarijuana.
“He pulled on the black, the tip of the filter hot and malleable between his lips, and felt a cool tingling coat the simmer in his chest and begin to eat away at it in small bites.”
- alt-ofAlternative letter-case form of black (“person having dark pigmentation of the skin”).
“By 2016, however, a divide that started appearing in the preceding few years came into full relief—that year, 29% of nonwhite liberals (28% of nonwhite Democrats) and 38% of Black liberals (34% of Bla”
- The player moving the black pieces.
“Unless the arbiter decides otherwise, ranks from White to Black shall be given the German numbers.”
- transitiveTo make black; to blacken.
“"I don't want to fight; but you are a mean, dirty blackguard, or you wouldn't have treated a girl like that," replied Tommy, standing as stiff as a stake before the bully.
"Say that again, and I'll bl”
“Ted, you can black your face, and dye your hair, and squint, and some fine day, sooner or later, somebody'll come along and blab the whole thing.”
“I saw red, and instead of a cab I fetched that policeman. Of course father did black his eye.”
- transitiveTo apply blacking to (something).
“[…] he must catch, curry, and saddle his own horse; he must black his own brogans (for he will not be able to buy boots).”
“But in a moment he went to Greenidge's bedside, and said, shyly, in a low voice, "Shall I black your boots for you?"”
“Loving you, I could conceive no life sweeter than hers — to be always near you; to black your boots, carry up your coals, scrub your doorstep; always to be working for you, hard and humbly and without”
- British, transitiveTo boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
“The plants were blacked by the Transport and General Workers' Union and a consumer boycott was organised; both activities contributed to what the union saw as a victory.”
- countable, uncountableA surname transferred from the nickname.
- countable, uncountableA town in Geneva County, Alabama.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in Edwards County, Illinois.
- countable, uncountableA township in Posey County, Indiana; from the surname.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in Reynolds County, Missouri.
- countable, uncountableA township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania; from the surname.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in Mercer County and Wyoming County, West Virginia.
Formsblacker(comparative) · more black(comparative) · blackest(superlative) · most black(superlative) · blacke(alternative, obsolete) · Black(alternative) · blk(alternative) · blak(alternative) · blacks(plural) · blacks(present, singular, third-person) · blacking(participle, present) · blacked(participle, past) · blacked(past) · Blacks(plural)