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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

black [nigeri negr schwartz nigel]


 

black

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[edit] English

Most common English words: question « doubt « around « #408: black » lady » truth » turn

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English black, blak, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-Germanic *blakaz, *blakkaz (“burnt”) (compare Dutch blaken 'to burn', Old High German blah 'black', Old Norse blakkr 'dark', blakra 'to blink'), from Proto-Indo-European *bhleg- (“to burn, shine”) (compare Latin flagare 'to shine', flagrare 'to burn', Ancient Greek φλωχ (phlōx) 'flame', Sanskrit bharga 'radiance'). More at bleach.

[edit] Adjective

black (comparative blacker, superlative blackest)
  1. (of an object) absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and colourless.
  2. (of a place, etc) without light.
  3. (sometimes capitalized, mostly U.S.) Relating to persons of negroid African descent or their culture.
  4. Bad; evil.  [quotations ▼]
    • 1655, Benjamin Needler, Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis. London: N. Webb and W. Grantham, page 168.
      ...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.
  5. Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced.  [quotations ▼]
    • 1866, The Contemporary Review, London: A. Strahan, page 338.
      Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the black market was flourishing.
  6. (Irish, informal) Overcrowded.
  7. (of coffee) Lacking cream, milk, and creamer.
  8. (board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set, no matter what the actual colour.
    The black pieces in this set are in fact made of dark blue glass.



[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Antonyms

[edit] Translations

[show ▼]absorbing all light
[show ▼]without light
[show ▼]relating to persons of African descent
[show ▼]Bad; evil
[show ▼]Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced
[show ▼]overcrowded
[show ▼]without milk

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
[show ▼]Translations to be checked

[edit] Noun

black (plural blacks)
  1. The colour/color perceived in the absence of light.
    black colour:  



  2. A black dye, pigment.



  3. A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.



  4. (in plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.  [quotations ▼]
    • 1625, Francis Bacon, "Of Death", Essays:
      Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.






  5. (sometimes capitalised) A person of African descent.



  6. (billiards, snooker, pool) the black: The black ball.



  7. (baseball) The edge of home plate



  8. (UK) a type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.



[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Antonyms

  • (colour, dye, pen) white

[edit] Translations

[hide ▲]colour/color


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