White

(hwīt), a. [compar. WHITER; superl. WHITEST.] [A-S. & O. Fries. hwît, O. Sax. huît, Icel. hvîtr, Sw. hvît, Dan. hvid, Goth. hveits, D. wit, L. Ger. wit, witt, O. H. Ger. hwîz, wîz, N. H. Ger. weisz, Skr. çvêta.]

1Sense 1. Having the color of pure snow; snowy; not dark; reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; as, white paper; a white skin.

2Sense 2. Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; as, white with fear.

Or whispering with white lips, “The foe—they come! they come!” Byron.

3Sense 3. Hence, having the color of purity; pure; clean; free from spot or blemish.

White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear. Dryden.

No whiter page than Addison’s remains. Pope.

4Sense 4. Gray, as the effect of age; having colorless hair.

Your high engendered battles ’gainst a head So old and white as this. Shak.

5Sense 5. Characterized by freedom from that which defiles, disturbs, and the like; hence, innocent; fortunate; happy; favorable.

On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life. W. Scott.

☞ White was also used as a term of endearment or favor, especially to a favorite child or dependent. Warton says that Dr. Busby used to call his favorite scholars his white boys. “I am his white boy, and will not be gulled.” Ford.

White ant (Entom.), a neuropterous insect of the genus Termes, found chiefly in tropical countries, which lives in communities, and builds conical or dome-formed habitations. It is noted for its ravages in wood-work. Baird.—White arsenic (Min.), a crystallized mineral of a white color, and vitreous or silky luster, having an astringent, sweetish taste, and consisting chiefly of oxide of arsenic. Dana.—White bear (Zool.), a variety of bear that inhabits the polar regions, a large, fierce quadruped, of a white color; Thalarctos maritimus; the polar bear. Baird.—White brant (Ornith.), a species of goose (the Anser hyperboreus) found at the extreme north of America, Europe, and Asia; the snow-goose.—White campion. (Bot.) (a.) A plant of the genus Silene (S. stellata); catch-fly. (b.) A plant of the genus Lychnis, often cultivated as an ornamental plant.—White cedar, an evergreen tree of North America (Thuja occidentalis), much valued for the durability of the timber it affords. Baird.—White centaury, an annual weed growing in woods and other places, Centaurea alba.—White clover, a small species of perennial clover, bearing white flowers. It furnishes excellent food for cattle and horses, as well as for the honey-bee.—White copper, an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, sometimes with a little iron; German silver; packfong. Ure.—White copperas (Min.), a mineral of a white, yellowish, or brownish color, and astringent taste, consisting chiefly of sulphuric acid, peroxide of iron, and water; coquimbite. Dana.—White crop, a crop, as of grain, which loses its green color, or becomes white, in ripening, as wheat, rye, barley, and oats, as distinguished from a root crop or green crop.—White currant (Bot.), a variety of the common red currant, having white berries.—White darnel, a prolific and troublesome weed growing among corn; Lolium temulentum.—White elm, a majestic tree of North America (Ulmus Americana), the timber of which is much used by wheelwrights, &c.—White feather, a mark of cowardice. See FEATHER.—White fish. (Ichth.) (a.) A small fish (the Alosa menhaden), often caught in great numbers, and used for manuring land. (b.) A fish of the salmon family (Coregonus albus), found in the lakes of North America, and much esteemed as food. Storer. (c.) The white whale (Beluga catodon). Baird.—White heat, the temperature at which bodies become incandescent, and appear white from the bright light which they emit.—White hellebore (Bot.), a plant of the genus Veratrum (V. album). See HELLEBORE.—White herring, a fresh or unsalted herring, as distinguished from a red, or cured, herring. [Rare.] Shak.—White horse-fish (Ichth.), a species of ray (Raia aspera nostras of Willughby, and the Raia fullonica of Linnæus). It has a rough, spiny back, and on the tail are three rows of strong spines. It grows to the size of the skate.—White iron, thin sheets of iron covered with tin; tinned iron.—White lead. (a.) A carbonate of lead, much used in painting, and for other purposes; ceruse. (b.) (Min.) A native carbonate of lead. Dana.—White leaf, leaf metal made of tin. Simmonds.—White leather, buff leather; alumed leather. Simmonds.—White light (Physics), the light coming directly from the sun, without having been decomposed by passing through prisms, &c. White lights are made artificially, to be used as signals, &c.—White lime, a solution or preparation of lime for whitewashing; whitewash.—White line (Print.), a void space, broader than usual, left between lines.—White metal, an alloy of lead, bismuth, and antimony, used for making tea-pots, spoons, &c.; also, any of the soft metals, usually of a light color, used for bearings in machinery.—White money, silver money.—White nun (Ornith.), a bird of the genus Mergus (M. albellus); a species of goosander or merganser, having the breast, belly, throat, and upper part of the neck of a white color. Yarrell.—White oak (Bot.), the Quercus alba. See OAK.—White pine, the Pinus strobus. See PINE.—White poplar, a tree of the poplar kind; Populus alba; abele, or abel-tree. It is one of the largest of European trees.—White poppy, a species of poppy, sometimes cultivated for the opium which is obtained from its juice by evaporation; Papaver somniferum.—White powder, a supposed kind of gunpowder which had the power of exploding without noise. [Obs.] “A pistol charged with white powder.” Beau. & Fl.—White precipitate (Med.), a compound of ammonia and corrosive sublimate. It is a white, insoluble powder, much used in medicine as an external application. It is sometimes called white calx of mercury.—White pudding, a sort of sausage made of entrails and liver. Halliwell.—White pyrites (Min.), a sulphuret of iron, of a pale bronze-yellow color, occurring in prismatic crystals. Dana.—White rent, a rent or duty of eight pence, payable yearly by every tinner, in Devon and Cornwall, to the Duke of Cornwall, as lord of the soil; formerly, rent payable in silver. [Prov. Eng.]—White salt, salt dried and calcined; decrepitated salt.—White spruce (Bot.), a variety of spruce; Abies alba. See SPRUCE.—White squall (Naut.), a sudden gust of wind which comes up without being marked in its approach by the clouds, and is attended with white, broken water, on the surface of the sea. Totten. Thackeray.—White staff, the badge of the lord high treasurer of England. Macaulay.—White swelling (Med.), a strumous inflammation of the synovial membranes of the knee-joint, and also a strumous inflammation of the cancellar texture of the end of the bone forming the knee-joint;—applied also to a lingering, chronic tumor, of almost any kind.—White tallow, a kind of Russian tallow obtained from the fat of sheep and goats. Simmonds.—White thorn (Bot.), a species of thorn of the genus Cratægus (C. oxyacantha); hawthorn.—White vitriol (Chem.), sulphate of zinc. Brande.—White wax, bees-wax rendered white by bleaching.—White whale (Zool.), a cetaceous marine mammal of the whale family; Beluga catodon;—so called because it is of a white color. Baird.—White wine, any wine of a clear, transparent color, bordering on white, as Madeira, Sherry, Lisbon, &c.;—opposed to wine of a deep-red color, as Port and Burgundy.