n. [Fr. pourpre, O. Fr. porpre, Pr. porpra, polpra, It. porpora, Sp. & Pg. purpura, from Lat. purpura, Gr. πορφύρα, originally the purple-fish, a shell from which the color was obtained; A-S. purpur, purpure.]
1Sense 1. A purple color.
Arraying with reflected purple and gold
The clouds that on his western throne attend. Milton.
2Sense 2. Hence, imperial government in the Roman empire, as a purple robe was the distinguishing dress of the emperors.
The claim of Demetrius to the vacant throne was justified by the trite and flimsy sophism—that he was born in the purple, and the eldest son of his father's reign. Gibbon.
3Sense 3. A cardinalate. Hume.
4Sense 4. A species of orchis, probably the Orchis mascula, or early purple, a common English flower. Nares. “Crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples.” Shak.
5Sense 5. A certain shell-fish. “Shell-fishes called purples.” Holland.
6Sense 6. (pl.) (Med.) Spots of a livid color on the skin, of different sizes, and circular in form, often in stripes or patches, irregularly scattered over the thighs, arms, and trunk, attended with occasional hemorrhage from the nostrils, mouth, and viscera, also by debility and depression of spirits. Dunglison.
☞ Purple is sometimes used in composition, forming words of very obvious signification; as, purple-colored, purple-hued, purple-stained, purple-tinged, purple-tinted, and the like.
Purple of Cassius. See CASSIUS. — Purple of mollusca, a viscid liquor, secreted by certain shell-fish, as the Buccinum lapillus, which dyes wool, &c., of a purple color, and is supposed to be the substance of the famous Tyrian dye. Ure.