Black

[A-S. blæc, blac, black, Icel. blakkr, dark, swarthy; Sw. black, Dan. blak, blackish; L. Ger. & D. blaken, to burn with a black smoke; A-S. blac, ink; Icel. blek, Dan. blīk, Sw. bläck, O. H. Ger. plah, L. Ger. black. This word ought not to be confounded with A-S. blāc, Eng. bleak, D. bleek. See BLEAK.]

1Sense 1. Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the color of soot or coal; as, black cloth. “O night, with hue so black.” Shak.

2Sense 2. In a less literal sense, very dark or gloomy; as, the heavens black with clouds.

I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud. Shak.

3Sense 3. (Fig.) Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; mournful; calamitous; horrible; wicked. “This day’s black fate.” “Black villainy.” “Arise, black vengeance.” Shak.

Black and blue, the dark color of a bruise in the flesh, which is accompanied with a mixture of blue. “To pinch the slatterns black and blue.” Hudibras. — A black sheep, one in a family or company who is unlike the rest, and makes trouble.

n. 1. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black.

Black is the badge of hell, the hue of dungeons, and the scowl of night. Shak.

2Sense 2. A negro; a person whose skin is black.

3Sense 3. A black dress, or mourning; as, to be clothed in black.

That was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers. North.

Black and white, in writing or print; as, I must have that statement in black and white.