Definitions of BLACK in various dictionaries:
noun -
the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)
noun -
total absence of light
noun -
British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat (1728-1799)
noun -
popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928)
noun -
a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa)
noun -
(board games) the darker pieces
noun -
black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning)
verb -
make or become black
adj -
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness
adj -
of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially of sub-Saharan African origin
adj -
marked by anger or resentment or hostility
adj -
offering little or no hope
adj -
stemming from evil characteristics or forces
adj -
(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences
adj -
(of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood
adj -
extremely dark
adj -
harshly ironic or sinister
adj -
(of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading
adj -
distributed or sold illicitly
adj -
(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
adj -
(of coffee) without cream or sugar
adj -
soiled with dirt or soot
Being of the color black, producing or reflecting comparatively little light and having no predominant hue.
Having little or no light: a black, moonless night.
Often Black.
Of, relating to, or belonging to a racial group having brown to black skin, especially one of African origin: the Black population of South Africa.
Of, relating to, or belonging to an American ethnic group descended from African peoples having dark skin; African American; Afro-American: “When the history books are written in future generations, the historians will... say, ‘There lived a great people—a black people—who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization’” (Martin Luther King, Jr.
Very dark in color: rich black soil; black, wavy hair.
Soiled, as from soot; dirty: feet black from playing outdoors.
Evil; wicked: the pirates’ black deeds.
Cheerless and depressing; gloomy: black thoughts.
Marked by anger or sullenness: gave me a black look.
Often Black.
Deserving of, indicating, or incurring censure or dishonor: “Man... has written one of his blackest records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands” (Rachel Carson).
Wearing clothing of the darkest visual hue: the black knight.
Served without milk or cream: black coffee.
Appearing to emanate from a source other than the actual point of origin.
Disclosed, for reasons of security, only to an extremely limited number of authorized persons; very highly classified: black programs in the Defense Department; the Pentagon’s black budget.
Boycotted as part of a labor union action.
Color.
The achromatic color value of minimum lightness or maximum darkness; the color of objects that absorb nearly all light of all visible wavelengths; one extreme of the neutral gray series, the opposite being white.
A pigment or dye having this color value.
Complete or almost complete absence of light; darkness.
Clothing of the darkest hue, especially such clothing worn for mourning.
Often Black.
A member of a racial group having brown to black skin, especially one of African origin.
An American descended from peoples of African origin having brown to black skin; an African American; an Afro-American: “Many blacks and Hispanics cannot borrow money from banks on subjective grounds” (Jesse Jackson).
Something that is colored black.
Games.
The black-colored pieces, as in chess or checkers.
The player using these pieces.
To make black: blacked their faces with charcoal.
To apply blacking to: blacked the stove.
To boycott as part of a labor union action.
To lose consciousness or memory temporarily: blacked out at the podium.
To suppress (a fact or memory, for example) from conscious recognition: blacked out many of my wartime experiences.
To prohibit the dissemination of, especially by censorship: blacked out the news issuing from the rebel provinces.
To extinguish or conceal all lights that might help enemy aircraft find a target during an air raid.
To extinguish all the lights on (a stage).
To cause a failure of electrical power in: Storm damage blacked out much of the region.
To withhold (a televised event or program) from a broadcast area: blacked out the football game on local stations.
It can be argued that black is different from these other terms because it was derived from an adj ective rather than from a proper name.
adj - being of the darkest color