| 释义 |
▪ I. black, a.|blæk|
Forms: 1 blæc (def. blace), 1–4 blac, 2–6 blake, 3–5 blak, 5 blaak(e, 4–7 blacke, 5– black.
[OE. blæc, blac (def. blace) = OHG. blah-, blach- (in comb.); a word of difficult history. In OE., found also (as the metres show) with long vowel blāce, blācan, and thus confused with blác shining, white:—OTeut. *blaiko- (see blake), as is shown by the fact that the latter also occurs with short vowel, blăc, blăcum; in ME. the two words are often distinguishable only by the context, and sometimes not by that. (Cf. ¶ 7.) ON. blakkr is not an exact phonetic equivalent, but, if native, points to an OTeut. *blakko- (for blakˈno: see Kluge Beitr. ix. 162). Sievers suggests that the original Teutonic types were *ˈblæ̂kno-, *blakˈko-, subsequently levelled to blæ̂ko-, blako-, blakko-, giving the OE. and ON. words; in this case *blæ̂k-no- might be pa. pple. of a vb. *blæ̂kan to burn (cogn. w. Gr. ϕλέγειν), and the original sense ‘burnt, scorched.’ Cf. blatch, which points to an OTeut. *blakkjo-, from blakko-. In Eng. black has quite displaced the original colour-word swart, which remains in the other Teutonic languages.]
I. literal. The proper word for a certain quality practically classed among colours, but consisting optically in the total absence of colour, due to the absence or total absorption of light, as its opposite white arises from the reflection of all the rays of light.
1. a. As a colour pertaining to objects, even in full light: Absorbing all light; ‘of the colour of night’ (J.); ‘of the colour of soot or coal’; ‘of the darkest possible hue’; swart. (Perfect blackness being a rare attribute of objects, those from the surface of which very little light is reflected are commonly called black.)
Beowulf 3606 Hrefn blaca heofenes wynne. c890K. ælfred Bæda ii. xvi. (Bosw.) He hæfde blæc feax, and blacne andwlitan. c1000ælfric Gram. vi. 12 Niger coruus, blac hrem. c1205Lay. 17699 Ane blake claðe. c1300K. Alis. 6259 Al blak so colebrond. c1380Sir Ferumb. 2461 Þan lai he þar so blac so pych. 1382Wyclif Song Sol. v. 11 Blac [1388 blake] as a crowe. c1440Promp. Parv. 38 Blak, niger, ater. c1440York Myst. xlviii. 143 In helle to dwelle with feendes blake. 1536Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 51 Hattes of blake velwett and whyte feethers. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 266 To look like her are Chimney-sweepers blacke. 1611Bible Matt. v. 36 Thou canst not make one haire white or blacke. 1674R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic 71 She had been in the black Box (meaning the Coffin) e're now. 1710J. Clark Rohault's Physique (1729) I. 223 The Black Body..absorbs and choaks all the Rays. 1807Robinson Archæol. Græca v. v. 425 They put on mourning garments, which were always black. 1842Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 28 That hair More black than ashbuds in the front of March. 1885Ld. Blackburn in Times 9 July 3/2 It has been observed..that no number of black rabbits would ever make a black horse.
b. Of a very dark colour closely approaching black.
c1420Liber Cocorum 7 Take black sugur for mener menne. 1718Pope Iliad i. 608 The priest himself..Pours the black wine. 1853C. Knight Once upon Time (1859) 417 On every road-side was what was familiarly termed ‘the black ditch.’ In every alley was a lesser black ditch. 1859Jephson Brittany i. 3 The blackest of port-wine.
c. Having an extremely dark skin; strictly applied to negroes and negritos, and other dark-skinned races; often, loosely, to non-European races, little darker than many Europeans.
890[see 1]. a1225Ancr. R. 234 Blac as a bloamon. a1225St. Marher. 10 Muchele del blaccre þen euer eni blamon. c1380Sir Ferumb. 2785 Among þe Sarsynz blake. 1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 14 The bodyes of men begin to waxe blacke and to be scorched. 1591[See black man 1]. 1666–7[See black boy 1]. 1782India Gaz. 30 Mar. (Y.) The black officers..were drummed out of the cantonments. 1842Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 24 Forrest says the Pappua Caffres are as black as the Caffres of Africa. 1856[See black boy 1].
d. fig. Of or pertaining to the negro race.
1852T. Hughes in J. Ludlow's Hist. U.S. 342 The ‘black law,’ by which coloured people were excluded from the territory. 1885Stevenson Dynamiter 152 The black blood that I now knew to circulate in my veins.
2. With the names of various objects prefixed, by way of comparison, as coal-black, jet-black, pitch-black, raven-black.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. cxxvii, My mistress eyes are raven-black. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4782/4 Stolen or stray'd..a cole black Horse. 1771P. Parsons Newmarket II. 89 On his head, observe the jett-black glossy velvet cap.
3. Characterized in some way by this colour.
a. Having black hair; dark-complexioned. (Cf. the surnames Black, Blackie.) arch. or Obs.
a1067Chart. Eadweard in Cod. Dipl. IV. 242 And ælfwynes ᵹherde ðe blake. c1190Vita S. Godrici §510 (1845) 417 Mulier pedissequa..cognomento Blache, id est Nigri, mercenaria. c1375Barbour Bruce xix. 556, I dred me sair for the blak dowglass. 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 133 How if she be Blacke and Witty? 1661Pepys Diary 30 Apr., Took up Mr. Hater and his wife..I found her to be a very pretty, modest, black woman. 1715R. Nelson A Kempis' Chr. Exerc. vii. 13 The Fair, the Black, the Learned, the Unlearned, do all pass away. 1815Hist. Univ. Camb. I. 144 The portrait in the Master's lodge represents him as a handsome black man.
b. Wearing black clothing, armour, etc.
1298[see Black Monk]. c1305Edmund Conf. 184 in E.E.P., Blake monekes he seȝ, As hit crowen and choȝen were. a1400Sir Perc. 49 The rede kynghte ne the blake. 1750Carte Hist. Eng. II. 73 Clement..retained only 200 horse and 2000 foot of the black bands so called from their being clad in mourning. 1877Brockett Cross & Cr. 154 The black, or monastic clergy.
c. Of coffee: see coffee n. 1.
1796,1867[see coffee n. 1 γ]. 1913Lancet 29 Nov. 1563/2 Coffee is often made with a generous proportion of the powdered bean as in the case of after dinner ‘black’ coffee, the view being that the secret of good coffee is to make it strong. 1940Auden Another Time 77 Kept awake with black coffee.
d. Applied to spades and clubs in a pack of cards. Cf. red a. 16 e.
1676[see ace 1 b]. 1714Pope Rape of Lock iii. 23 The Club's black Tyrant first her Victim dy'd. 1860‘Perseverance’ Patience 9 Remembering to place a black 3 upon a red 3, a red 6 upon a black 6. 1953A. Christie Pocket Full of Rye viii. 52 Miss Ramsbottom continued with her patience... ‘Red seven on black eight. Now I can move up the King.’
4. Characterized by absence of light.
a. Enveloped in darkness; dark, dusky, swart.
1393Gower Conf. I. 81 The blacke winter night. c1400Rom. Rose 5359 The blak shadowes. 1595Shakes. John v. vi. 17 Heere walke I, in the black brow of night. 1637Milton Comus 61 In thick shelter of black shades imbower'd. 1790Burns Tam O'Shanter 69 That hour, o'night's black arch the key stane. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast x, The rain fell fast, and it grew black. 1883J. Parker Apost. Life II. 168 Storms howling down the black chimney in the blacker night.
b. Of deep water, clouds, the clouded sky, etc.: Reflecting and transmitting little light; dark, sombre, dusky, gloomy.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. v. ii. 153 Þe nyȝt ne wiþstondeþ nat to hym by þe blake cloudes. c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 369 The weder wex than wonder blak. 1611Bible 1 Kings xviii. 45 The heauen was blacke with cloudes. 1626Bacon Sylva §874 Water of the Sea..looketh Blacker when it is moved, and Whiter when it resteth. 1646Buck Rich. III, iii. 84 The young Princes were imbarqued in a Ship at Tower wharfe, and conveyed..to Sea, so cast into the Blacke deeps. 1818Byron Juan i. lxxiii, The blackest sky Foretells the heaviest tempest.
5. Deeply stained with dirt; soiled, dirty, foul.
a1300Havelok 555 In a poke ful and blac. c1384Chaucer H. Fame 1637 But he [i.e. Eolus] Toke out hys blake trumpe of bras That fouler than the Devill was. 1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. V. 229 Blake flokkes of Scottes [tetri Scotorum greges]. Mod. Proverb. Rime. I'd rather have black hands, and plenty of meat, Than never such white ones, and nothing to eat.
6. a. Black is used in naming varieties or species of animals naturally distinguished by this colour, as black bear, beetle, duck, rat; also varieties or species (or what are popularly so considered) of plants characterized by darkness of stem, leaf, etc., as black bindweed, hellebore, parsley, spleenwort, etc. See these and the like under the generic names bear, beetle, bindweed, hellebore, etc.
b. In the names of artificial flies used in fly-fishing.
1496[see louper]. 1655Walton Angler (ed. 2) v. 145 There are twelve Kinds of Artificial made Flies to Angle with upon the top of the water... The sixth is, the black-fly.., the body made of black-wool and lapt about with the herle of a Peacocks tail. 1799[see midge 2]. 1837J. Kirkbride Northern Angler 35 The Black Midge, or Gnat,..cannot be made too fine and small. Ibid. 51 The Black Palmer..is made with a body of black ostrich harle, ribbed with silver thread. Ibid. 57 The Black Spinner..has acquired a high reputation, both as a lake and a river-fly. 1923Daily Mail 11 Aug. 7 The Lea should yield some good specimens of these fish to the black gnat.
¶7. In ME. it is often doubtful whether blac, blak, blake, means ‘black, dark,’ or ‘pale, colourless, wan, livid’ = OE. blác; see farther under blake.
c1205Lay. 19890 ænne stunde he wes blac? and on heuwe swiðe wak. Ane while he wes reod. a1240Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 249 His leoc deaðliche ant blac and elheowet. c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 747, I am bot erþe ful euel, & vsle so blake. c1330Roland & V. 434 [Charlemagne was] of a stern sight, Blac of here and rede of face. [He had ‘la chevelure belle’ (Martin, from Eginhard.)] c1420Anturs of Arth. ix, Alle bare was the body, and blak by the bone.
II. fig.
8. a. Having dark or deadly purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving death, deadly; baneful, disastrous, sinister.
1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 22 Many a black curse haue they of the poore commons for their doing. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iv. 56 That black Name, Edward, black Prince of Wales. 1640Habington Castara ii. ii. xxxii, The blacke edict of a tyrant grave. Ibid. ii. ii. xi, By Fate rob'd even of that blacke victory. 1713Steele Guardian No. 18 ⁋1 Think it madness to be unprepar'd against the black moment. 1758H. Walpole Catal. R. Authors (1759) I. 142 The throne..usurped by the Queen's black enemy, Philip. 1821Byron Sardan. v. i. 195 That's a black augury!
b. spec. Of comedy: macabre. Cf. Fr. pièce noire.
1963Listener 14 Feb. 310/1, I prefer my black comedy a little blacker. 1964Ibid. 13 Feb. 287/3 His recent group of Swiftean black comedies. 1964Guardian 8 July 7/6 [It is] ‘black comedy’. Death's kind of fashionable nowadays. 1965Listener 11 Mar. 379/3 The whole form of ‘Berck-Plage’, a poem about a seaside funeral, is a most remarkable piece of black cinema.
9. Foul, iniquitous, atrocious, horribly wicked.
1581Lambarde Eiren. (1588) App., You wil haue a blacke soule..if you doe not the sooner forsake the Queene..and her heresies. 1592Greene Groatsw. Wit (1617) 33 Black is the remembrance of my blacke works. c1600J. Davies in Farr S.P. I. 255 Red Seas to drowne our blacke Egyptian Sins. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. 23 The portion of the blackest criminals. 1713S. Pycroft Free-thinking 25 He has vented the blackest Calumnies. 1738A. M'Aulay in Swift's Lett. clix, I shall never be guilty of such black ingratitude. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xvii. vii, Concealing facts of the blackest dye. 1839Bailey Festus v, Die with the black lie flapping on your lips.
10. a. Clouded with sorrow or melancholy; dismal, gloomy, sad.
1659Hammond On Ps. xlii. 9 What a black gloomy condition am I now in? 1715Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 234 He had also very black fits of the spleen. 1809J. Barlow Columb. i. 16 The slow, still march of black despair.
b. Of the countenance, the ‘look’ of things, prospects: Clouded with anger, frowning; threatening, boding ill; the opposite of bright and hopeful.
1709Stanhope Paraphr. IV. 190 When the Face of affairs looked blackest and no glimpse of Comfort appeared. 1832H. Martineau Each & All ii. 25 His countenance was black as night. 1840E. Elliott Corn-Law Rhymes 119 The crew will no longer regard my child with black looks.
c. Hence to look black: to frown, to look angrily (at or upon a person).
1814Jane Austen Mansf. Park (1870) I. vi. 50 My brother-in-law..looked rather black upon me. 1855Thackeray Rose & Ring xv, Black as thunder looked King Padella at this proud noble. 1855Browning Fra Lippo, The monks looked black.
11. a. Indicating disgrace, censure, liability to punishment, etc. Cf. black books, black list n., etc. Often accompanied by some symbol actually black, as in quot. 1840.
1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. 286 To punish by a note, which may be called, the Black Bill. c1830A. Picken Chang. Charlie, When mounted..on the top of the black stool, he seemed..delighted. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge viii, Write Curzon down, Denounced..Put a black cross against the name of Curzon.
b. Short for black-leg 3 c: of persons or of work performed by ‘blackleg’ labour. Hence in extended use, of work boycotted by trade unions during a dispute, also of products, supplies, etc., which they refuse to handle.
1927Daily Tel. 22 Nov. 12/2 The Waterside Workers' Federation to-day declared as ‘black’ the steamer Kakakiri. 1935Economist 8 June 1302/2 [Work books] will facilitate the control of the labour market and the prevention of ‘double-earning’ and ‘black labour’. 1956Times 24 Aug. 8/4 Two more freighters..were declared ‘black’ to-day by the boilermakers' union because of work being done by members of the crew. 1959New Statesman 11 July 34/1 Meanwhile, as magazines and provincial papers progressively close down, tension is increasing in those offices where arrangements have been made to produce ‘black’ editions. 1963Times 28 May 5/1 When supervisory staff took over maintenance and transport driving duties, all the firm's production men quickly classified their work as ‘black’ and walked out.
c. Existing in contravention of economic regulations, as the ‘black market’; hence, bought or sold by illicit trading.
1937S. & B. Webb Soviet Communism (ed. 2) II. 1199 There was always in Moscow and Leningrad, Kharkov and Kiev, the so-called ‘Black Exchange’, where native speculators illegally offered to the tourist, for American dollars or British pound notes, five, ten or twenty times as many roubles as the State Bank would give. 1938Baltimore Sun 18 Mar. 3/1 We're expected to buy ‘black’ rubles or bootleg rubles which are available..at a fraction of the standard rate. We used to get them in what we call the Black Bourse... It's..a name applied to the ‘bootleg’ circles; to channels through which we bought black rubles. 1942Ann. Reg. 1941 175 Contravention of war economic decrees, e.g. black slaughtering, were frequently punished with death. 1946Times 18 Apr. 5/6 There are some things—food bought ‘black’ and services—which are not to be had for Reichsmarks.
III. Phrases and combinations.
12. Phrases. to say black is anyone's eye (eyebrow, nail, etc.): to find fault with, to lay anything to his charge (? obs.) black in the face: having the face made dark crimson or purple by strangulation, passion, or strenuous and violent effort.
1528Roy Sat. (1845) They eate their belies full..And none sayth blacke is his eye. 1589Hay any Work 36 If you were my chaplains once, I trowe John Whitgift..durst not once say blacke to your eies. 1675Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 250 He knew that the law could not say black was his eye, and that the judge upon the bench would pronounce him righteous. 1720Vade-mec. Malt-Worms 11 None can say that black's his eyebrow to him. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ix. iv, I defy anybody to say black is my eye. 1789Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. Falling Minist. Wks. 1812 II. 121 Swore himself black in the face. 1828Carr Craven Dial. II. 2 ‘Thou cannot say black's my nail’..Cui tu nihil dicas vitii. Ter. 1836Dickens Pickw. v, Mr. Winkle pulled..till he was black in the face. 1870Lowell Study Wind. 67 Though we should boast..till we were black in the face.
13. black and blue, orig. blak and bla, blak and blo, of which the present form is a corruption arising when blo became obsolete after 1550. The proper black and blae remains in the north, though often supplanted there also by the literary form.
esp. Of the human body: Discoloured by beating, bruising, or pinching, so as to have black and ‘blue’ or livid bruises: as to beat (any one) black and blue. Also absol.
a1300Cursor M. 8073 Four sarzins..Blac and bla [Trin. blak and blo] als led þai war. c1314Guy Warw. (A.) 506 Þe leches ben to him y-go, Gy þai finde blaike and blo. c1460Towneley Myst. 206 Bett hym blak and bloo. 1552Huloet, Beaten blacke and bloo, suggilatus. 1563T. Hill Arte Garden. (1593) 68 The black and blewe of a stripe. 1663Butler Hud. i. ii. 942 Flew To rescue Knight from black and blue. 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2577/4 His right Eye black and blue with a Blow. 1785Burns Twa Herds xii, Aft hae made us black and blae. a1845Hood Happy New Year xii, He's come home black and blue from the cane.
14. a. black and tan (of a kind of terrier dog): Having black hair upon the back, and tan (yellowish brown) hair upon the face, flanks, and legs. Also ellipt. as n.
1850C. M. Yonge Langley School vi. 41 Oscar, the bloodhound, that monster of a black-and-tan dog. 1863Kingsley Water-Bab. vi. 272 Out jumped a little black and tan terrier dog. 1870D. J. Kirwan Palace & Hovel (1963) xiii. 118 The dog-fancier may be noticed with..a black and tan under one arm and a spaniel under the other. 1884Harper's Mag. Aug. 464/1 A jealous little black-and-tan stood by. 1948C. L. B. Hubbard Dogs in Britain iii. xx. 271 Since 1925 Black-and-Tan Miniature Terriers may exceed the previous weight limit of 7 pounds.
b. black and tan: a drink composed of porter (or stout) and ale. slang.
1889in Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang. 1955G. Freeman Liberty Man i. iv. 60 He asked for a pint of black and tan, and had to explain to the waiter what it was. 1958A. Sillitoe Sat. Night & Sun. Morn. vi. 93 Gin-and-orange? I'll have a black-and-tan.
c. Black and Tans: popular name for an armed force specially recruited to combat the Sinn-Feiners in 1921, so named from the mixture (black and khaki) of constabulary and military uniforms worn by them. Also attrib. Hence black-and-tannery: the principles or activities of the Black and Tans.
1921Times 28 Jan. 7/5 ‘God Save the King’ and ‘God Bless the Black and Tans’. 1921Ld. Braye in Hansard Lords XLIV. 792, I rise to ask His Majesty's Government..whether they will..recall the Black and Tans. 1922W. B. Yeats Lett. (1954) 680 The Black and Tans flogged young men and then tied them to their lorries by the heels. 1923Weekly Disp. 4 Mar. 9 ‘How can I,’ concluded Sir John Simon, ‘defend black-and-tannery?’ 1958Spectator 8 Aug. 183/2 The only way would be a reversion to Black-and-tannery, to forcible coercion and repression.
15. black and white:
a. adj. Having a surface diversified with black and white. Also applied spec. to a type of house painted white and having black timbers.
1612W. Strachey Hist. Trav. Virginia (1849) i. x. 123 Squirrells they have..some blackish, or black and white. 1811A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. III. 23 Black and White Creeper. Certhia Maculata. 1819Keats Let. 3 Jan. (1958) II. 29 Mrs. Dilke has two cats... The Mother is a tabby and the daughter a black and white. c1830E. Grosvenor in G. Huxley Lady Eliz. & Grosvenors (1965) ii. 45 The house black and white outside and good carved oak within. 1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton I. i. 2 One of those old-world, gabled, black and white houses. 1878Stevenson Inl. Voy., Black-and-white cattle fantastically marked. 1936M. Allis Eng. Prelude xv. 116 The same holds true of old houses, in which Shrewsbury is very rich, especially the type called ‘black and white’. 1959New Biol. XXX. 50 The Black and White Hawk-Eagle, Spizaetus alboniger. 1968‘R. Simons’ Death on Display xi. 171 High Tor was a black and white two-car-garage type, with a weedy drive, and..a large wooden cross above the front porch.
b. n. Black characters upon white paper; writing. in († under) black and white: in writing or in print. (black on white is a fanciful alteration.)
1599Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 314 Moreouer sir, which indeede is not vnder white and black, this plaintiffe here..did call me asse. a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 136 We stay not till we have gotten it under black and white. 1712Steele Spect. No. 286 ⁋3 Give us in Black and White your Opinion in the Matter. 1830Galt Lawrie T. iv. x. (1849) 180 A confirmed black and white agreement. 1845Carlyle Cromwell (1871) IV. 117 In Authentic black-on-white against them. 1866W. Collins Armadale iv. xv, The whole story of her life, in black and white.
c. Art. (A sketch or drawing in) black or dark tint on white paper, or with white colour used. Also attrib., as in black-and-white art, black and white artist, black and white drawing, black and white sketch.
1885Athenæum 21 Feb. 251/1 Pictures and drawings in black and white. 1889Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Jan., The modern work in which black-and-white art is seen in its most perfect stage of development... Many of the best black-and-white men of the day are represented. 1892C. G. Harper Eng. Pen Artists 60 Such excellent black-and-white renderings of dog life. Ibid. 178 The arts of black-and-white drawing. Ibid., Colourists or black-and-white artists. 1895Pennell Mod. Illustr. Introd. 3 The amount of black-and-white work which he [sc. Dürer] produced. 1896Daily News 29 Sept. 6/6 The well-known black-and-white artist, Mr. Fred Barnard.
d. Photogr. and Television. Applied to monochrome photographs, photographic reproductions, films, etc., opp. ‘colour’.
1890Portfolio XXI. Art Chron. xviii/2 In so far as small photographic black-and-white versions can be satisfactory they are very good. 1940Graves & Hodge Long Week-End xxv. 434 American advertising carried far more photographs than British, both coloured and black and white. 1958Amateur Photographer 31 Dec. 914/2 A 35-mm camera, with which it is undesirable to use the very fastest black-and-white films unless forced. 1961Guardian 7 Feb. 6/4 Black-and-white television in cinemas.
16. Often prefixed to other adjectives of colour, indicating a blackish shade of the latter, as black-brown, black-green, black-grey, etc.
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 152 Ferrugo, blac purpur. 1462Test. Ebor. II. 254 Unum equum coloris le blak-gray. 1685Lond. Gaz. 2037/4 Stolen or strayed..a black-brown Gelding. 1844Kinglake Eothen xxvii. (1878) 343 A long low line of blackest green. 1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 257 This oxide separates after some time as a black-green hydride. 1863Browning Pippa Passes 1, Its black-blue canopy seemed let descend. 1877G. Nevile Horses xv. 105 A black-chestnut will clip the same colour he was before. 1923D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 180 The black-green skirts of a yellow-green old Mexican woman.
17. quasi-adv. with an adj., as in black babbling, babbling maliciously, slanderous; black boding, of ill omen, inauspicious; black fasting, enduring a very severe fast; blacklooking, etc.
1910J. Buchan Prester John v. 97, I'll admit the truth to you, Davie. I'm *black afraid.
1915― Salute to Adventurers iii. 47, I had been sore at my imprisonment, I was *black angry at this manner of release.
1624Quarles Job (1717) 168 Earths *black-babling daughter (she that hears And vents alike, both truth and forgeries).
1742Young Nt. Th. iv. 8 *Black-boding man Receives, not suffers, death's tremendous blow.
1938E. Bowen Death of Heart i. i. 24 His father was *black depressed.
1664Floddan F. vii. 66 *Black fasting as they were born.
1824Scott St. Ronan's xvi, To sit for ten hours thegither, black fasting.
1854J. Abbott Napoleon (1855) I. xx. 328 He was a little, *black-looking man.
18. In parasynthetic comb., as black-aproned, black-backed, black-bearded, black-berried, black-bodied, black-bordered, black-breasted, black-capped, black-clothed, black-coated, black-coloured, black-cornered, black-draped, black-edged, black-favoured, black-footed, black-gowned, black-hafted, black-haired, black-hearted, black-hilted, black-hoofed, black-legged, black-lipped, black-maned, black-margined, black-necked, black-orbed, black-plumed, black-rimmed, black-robed, black-scarved, black-shawled, black-skinned, black-souled (also absol.), black-spotted, black-stoled, black-striped, black-tailed, black-throated, black-veiled, black-veined, black-visaged, black-winged adjs. etc., etc. Most of these are later than 16th c.: their number may be increased indefinitely, and they may have derivatives, as blackheartedness.
1776Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 445 *Black backed Gull..Larus marinus. 1858U.S. War Dept. Rep. Explor. Railroad Route IX. 98 Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker. 1874Coues Birds N.W. 368 Black-backed Eagle.
1833Tennyson Dream Fair Women in Poems 130 The stern *blackbearded kings with wolfish eyes. 1881Wilde Poems 107 Grim watchmen on their lofty seats..strained black-bearded throats across the dusky parapet.
1838Dickens Nich. Nick. i. 2 A *black-bordered letter to inform him how his uncle..was dead.
1815Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. IX. i. 205 *Black-breasted woodpecker. 1854Poultry Chron. I. 544/2 Game (Black-breasted and other Reds).
1873W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 322 Our parson bends his *black-clothed back in the sun.
1871Member for Paris II. 67 A sort of *black-coated Mephistopheles.
1528Paynell Salerne Regim. F iv, *Blacke colered wyne.
1607Shakes. Timon v. i. 47 When the day serues, before *blacke-corner'd night.
1898Westm. Gaz. 28 May 10/1 The bowed, *black-draped figure passing sadly from the shadows in the Abbey. 1904Daily Chron. 8 Dec. 3/2 The black-draped scaffold at Whitehall.
1865C. M. Yonge Clever Woman I. i. 5 Hurry to the drawing-room, and tear open the *black-edged letter.
1681Lond. Gaz. No. 1668/4 A middle siz'd, *Black Favour'd [man].
c1400Destr. Troy viii. 3780 Telamon truly was a tulke full faire, *Blake horit.
1771Burke Powers of Juries Wks. X. 122 Whether a *black-haired man or a fair-haired man presided in the Court.
1849E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 175 The *black-hearted gibes of a portion of our English press. 1863Times 10 Apr., The ‘black-hearted traitors’ of the North..worse than the ‘black-hearted miscreants’ of the South. 1872Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 94 A dry, dead knot is left when they [sc. the branches] are cut off, which sometimes kills the center of the tree, making it ‘black-hearted’. 1932A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms iii. 20 He is a black-hearted villain.
1871Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 250 Downright malignity and *blackheartedness.
1850Cumming 5 Yrs. in S. Afr. (1902) 115/2 The most magnificent old *black-maned lion.
1839W. B. O. Peabody in Mass. Zool. & Bot. Surv., Rep. Ornith. 358 The *Black Necked Stilt, Himantopus nigricollis. 1910F. W. Fitzsimons Snakes of S. Afr. 73/2 Naia nigricollis. Black-necked Cobra... Average length 5 to 6 ft. Distribution: Natal, Zululand, Transvaal, [etc.]. 1934Discovery Oct. 294/2 There has been a marked increase in the nesting of the black-necked grebes in Britain and Ireland.
1938W. de la Mare Memory 73 Prowling, *black-orbed, disconsolate, Questing antennae, quivering wing.
1729*Black-rimm'd [see rimmed a. 1]. 1922Joyce Ulysses 128 Staring through his blackrimmed spectacles.
1858M. Arnold Merope 9 This *black-rob'd train. 1863Black-robed [see black n. 5 c].
1917D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 81 *Black-scarved faces of womenfolk.
1929R. Graves Poems 27 The *black-shawled peasant woman.
1840Whitman Uncoll. Poetry & Prose (1921) I. 15 All lie earth's spreading arms within, The pure, the *black-souled, proud and low. 1944E. Blunden Shells by Stream 43 And forth from black-souled hurricanes Conjures glad day.
1591Troub. Raigne K. John i. iv, *Black-spotted Periure as he is. 1662R. Smith (title) A Wonder of Wonders:..an Invective against Black-spotted Faces. 1783Latham Gen. Syn. Birds II. ii. 633 Black-spotted P[igeon]. 1901Westm. Gaz. 27 June 3/2 Black-spotted white foulard. 1932D. Gascoyne Roman Balcony 9 A tattered projection of black-spotted leaves On a branch.
1815Scott Ld. of Isles ii. xxii, The *black-stoled brethren.
1908Westm. Gaz. 21 Nov. 16/2 The finest perch of the week (2½ lb.) also hails from this part, though some nice specimens of the *black-striped fish have been secured from the Thames. 1923D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 167 She [sc. the goat]..reaches her black-striped face up like a snake.
1806Lewis in L. & Clark Exped. (1905) IV. 87 The *black tailed fallow deer. 1863Black tailed [see godwit]. 1916E. Blunden Harbingers 32 And black-tailed chub still shoal below.
1785Pennant Arctic Zool. II. 363 *Black-throated Bunting. 1860G. H. K. Vac. Tour 126 Hearing the hoarse cry of the black-throated diver.
1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 238 An house of *blacke veyled Nunnes. 1906Westm. Gaz. 18 Aug. 11/2 These black-veiled children of the East. 1906B. von Hutten What became of Pam iii. i, A black-veiled nursing-sister.
1775M. Harris Eng. Lepidoptera 7 Papilio. English Names... White, *black veined. 1903Westm. Gaz. 1 Dec. 8/2 Black-veined marble.
1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4695/3 This William Charlton is a *black visag'd Man.
1628Feltham Resolves (1647) 41 Styx, and *black-wav'd Acheron.
1817Shelley Laon & Cythna i. xxx. 16 *Black winged demon forms. 1953E. Sitwell Gardeners & Astronomers 41 Only her sisters, harpy winds, black-winged like flies.
19. a. Specialized comb. (For such as black cattle, black coal, black draught, etc. see cattle, coal, draught, etc.) black-about a. (nonce-wd.), black all around; Black Africa, the part of the African continent, esp. south of the Sahara, (ruled and) inhabited predominantly by Blacks; black-apronry, the wearers of black aprons, the clerical and legal professions; black arm, a bacterial disease of cotton plants characterized by angular discolorations; black bag adj. phr. (U.S. colloq.), applied to activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation involving illegal entry into premises; black-band, an earthy carbonate of iron found in the coal measures, and containing coaly matter sufficient for calcining the ore; black bean, (a) a bean of the genus Phaseolus, having black seeds; (b) an Australian hardwood tree (Castanospermum australe); also its timber; black body Physics, a body or surface that absorbs all radiation falling upon it; also attrib., esp. in black-body radiation, the radiation emitted by a black body; black bomber slang, an amphetamine tablet (see quot. 1964); † black bowl, a drinking bowl; black box, orig. Royal Air Force slang for a navigational instrument in an aeroplane; later extended to denote any automatic apparatus performing intricate functions (cf. quot. 1674 under black a. 1 a); also fig. and attrib.; black bread: see bread n. 2 e; black-buck, a name used by sportsmen for the antelope proper (Antilope cervicapra); also, the South African Hippotragus niger; black bun, a rich fruit cake in a pastry case, eaten in Scotland, etc., at New Year; cf. Hogmanay cake s.v. Hogmanay; black butter, † (a) = apple-butter; (b) butter browned in a pan and mixed with vinegar and parsley to make a sauce; † black canon, a canon regular of St. Augustine; black character = black-letter; † black-choler, one of the four humours of early physiologists, melancholy; see choler; black-clock [clock n.3], any black beetle, esp. the cockroach (north. dial.); black-coat, (a) a depreciative term for clergyman, parson; (b) any black-coated worker (see black-coated adj.); also attrib.; black-coated a., spec. defining clerical or professional as distinguished from industrial or commercial occupations; hence, of or composed of persons engaged in such occupations; black code U.S., a code or body of laws relating to Negroes in some Southern States, esp. before the abolition of slavery; black cotton ground or soil, a dark, rich soil found esp. in the Deccan region of India, produced by the disintegration of a black lava; = regur; Black Country, parts of Staffordshire and Warwickshire grimed and blackened by the smoke and dust of the coal and iron trades; black-crop, a crop of peas or beans as opposed to one of corn; black curlew (see quot.); black damp, the choke-damp of coal mines: see damp; black disease, a fatal disease of sheep characterized by necrosis of the liver (see quot. 1918); black doctor (see quot.); black dress attrib. (see quot.); black dwarf Astr., a small, very dense star composed of degenerate matter which has cooled and become non-luminous; black earth, (a) = chernozem; also attrib.; (b) attrib. in black-earth country = black belt 2; black economy, (a) U.S., the economy of the U.S. Black population; (b) = underground economy s.v. underground a. 4 e; see sense 11 c; Black English, the form of English spoken by many Blacks, esp. as an urban dialect of the U.S.; black fast Eccl., a fast which includes abstinence from milk and eggs (cf. black fasting under sense 17); black fellow, an Australian aboriginal; also gen. = black man 1; blackfellow's bread = native bread (see bread n.1 2 e); black-figure Archæol., applied attrib. to a type of Greek pottery ornamented with figures in black silhouette; also absol.; so black-figured adj.; black fox, the red fox, Vulpes fulva, of northern America, during a colour phase in which its fur is black; black frost: see frost n. 1; black gang, a gang employed on such work as coaling, stoking, etc.; black gold colloq. (chiefly U.S.), oil; also transf.; black gown, a collegian or learned man; U.S., an Indian name for a Roman Catholic priest; black growth U.S. (see quots.); Black Hand, (a) defining a Spanish revolutionary society of anarchists; (b) defining a secret society of Italian immigrants in U.S., concerned chiefly in levying blackmail; hence Black Hander, a member of such a society; black heart, (a) (for black heart-cherry), a dark sort of cultivated cherry; (b) Metallurgy, used attrib. or ellipt. of a type of malleable cast iron having a core of graphite or the process for making this; black heat (see quots.); black helmet, a mollusc shell used in the making of shell-cameos; black hole: see as main entry; † black-hood, a non-regent member of the senate of the University of Cambridge; † black humour, black choler, melancholy: see humour; black ice, a thin hard transparent ice; black Jew (see Jew n.); black job slang (Obs.), a funeral; black joke: see joke n. 1; black knot, (a) any of certain kinds of fungus in the U.S.; (b) a fast knot as distinguished from a running knot (Ogilvie, 1881); black larch U.S., an American variety of larch, the hackmatack; black-lark (see quots.); black level Television, the level of the picture signal that corresponds to black in the transmitted picture; also attrib.; black light, light-rays beyond the two ends of the visible spectrum; invisible ultra-violet or infra-red light; black liquor, acetate of iron used instead of green copperas as a mordant in dyeing (Cent. Dict. 1889); † black literature, that printed in ‘black letter’; black magic (see magic n. 1 b); black money, (a) see money n. 1 d; (b) chiefly India, money not declared for tax purposes; cf. black economy (b) above; Black Mountain, used attrib. of a school of projective poets (cf. projective a. 7) led by Charles Olson (1910–70), who taught at Black Mountain College, N. Carolina; hence Black Mountaineer, one of these poets; Black Museum, the name given to a collection preserved at Scotland Yard of exhibits connected with crimes of the past; Black Muslim, a member of the Nation of Islam, an American Negro sect, established in 1931 by ‘Wallace Farad’ and developed from 1934 by Elijah Muhammad, which preaches a form of Islam and proposes principally the separation of Negroes and Whites; Black Nationalism, advocacy of the national civil rights of U.S. (also occas. of South African and other) Blacks; hence Black Nationalist n. and a.; black oil, any of various dark-coloured oils, spec. heavy crude oil used for lubrication; Black Panther, a member of an American Negro organization which adopts a militant attitude to the promotion of the Negro cause; black-plate (see quot. 1858); black pod, a disease of the cocoa tree caused by the fungus Phytophthora faberi; black pope: see pope n.1 1; black power, power for black people; used as a slogan of varying implication by, or in support of, Negro civil rights workers and organizations; black print Photogr. [print n. 13], a print giving black lines on a white ground; black propaganda, falsified or unacknowledgeable propaganda, esp. that disseminated among the enemy, purporting to come from the enemy's own sources, and designed to lower morale; black quarter, a disease of cattle (= black-leg n. 1); black rent, black mail, an illegal tribute; Blackrobe Canad., [sense 3 b] a North-American Indian term for a Christian (missionary) priest; black root, any of various American plants with dark-coloured roots; black root rot, any of various diseases of plants characterized by black lesions of the root; spec. a disease of tobacco and other plants caused by the fungus Thielaviopsis basicola; black rot, any of various diseases of plants characterized by dark discoloration and decay; black rubber vine, an African plant producing a black juice which is used as rubber; black rust [rust n.1 6 b], a plant rust producing black discoloration; Black Sash, applied attrib. to a women's anti-apartheid organization in South Africa; black scab (see quot. 1915); black scale, a destructive scale (Lecanium oleæ) infesting olive, citrus, and other cultivated plants; black scour(s) [scour n.2 5], a hæmorrhagic diarrhœa of sheep, pigs, and cattle; black-seed, a popular name of the black Medick; Black September, the name adopted by a Palestinian Arab paramilitary group [from the month in 1970 when Jordan attacked Palestinian commandos]; hence Black Septembrist; black sheet, (a piece of) ungalvanized sheet iron; black silk, used attrib. to define a period of mourning during which black silk is worn instead of crape; black soil = chernozem; black-sole (Sc.) = blackfoot; black southeaster S. Afr. (see quots.); black spring Austral. (see quot.); black step Printing (see quot.); black strap, an inferior kind of port wine, also a mixture of rum and treacle taken as a beverage; black stripe; (a) = black strap; (b) a disease of the tomato-plant, produced by the fungus Alternaria solani; black studies chiefly U.S., the investigation of African or Afro-American culture, history, etc., as a school or college course; black stump Austral. colloq., a place imagined to be the last outpost of civilization, usu. in phr. this side of the black stump; [the black stump has been variously but inconclusively identified since 1826 (cf. 1970 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 22 Feb. 27)]; black sugar (Sc.), Spanish or Italian (liquorice) juice; black theology, an interpretation of Christianity having special relevance to the aspirations of (esp. U.S.) Blacks; black tie, spec. a man's black bow-tie worn with a dinner-jacket; also ellipt., evening dress including a black tie; so black-tied a., wearing a black tie; black tongue chiefly U.S., any of various diseases in human beings or animals characterized by a dark discoloration of the tongue; black tooth U.S., a condition of pigs in which the teeth become black; black tracker Austral., an Aboriginal employed to help the police in tracking down fugitives or persons lost in the bush; black tripe, unbleached tripe; black turf (soil), a dark-coloured soil found in the Transvaal (see quots.); black velvet, (a) a drink made by mixing stout and champagne; (b) Austral. and N.Z. slang, a black-skinned or coloured woman; such women collectively; black wart = black scab; Black Watch, the 42nd Highland regiment of the British army (see quot.); black widow (spider) (see quots.); black willow, any of various willows (see quots.), esp. the Salix nigra of N. America; black work, (a) iron-work; also spec. (see quot. 1888); (b) blacked leather; (c) a kind of embroidery (see quot. 1910); (d) undertakers' work (cf. black man 3 and blackmaster); black-wort, a popular name of the common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale).
1876G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland (1918) st. xxiv, She to the *black-about air..Was calling.
1938L. Hughes New Song 10 Torn from *Black Africa's strand I came. 1947A. Keppel-Jones When Smuts Goes viii. 139 Mishka and Nakovalny, whose country was now an Indian Ocean Power, regarded Black Africa as a very promising field for Muscovite missionary work. 1958Observer 2 Nov. 7/4 The key to Black Africa lies in the vast territory of Nigeria. 1975E. Shils in H. M. Patel et al. Say not Struggle Nought Availeth 83 In Black Africa, between 1954 and 1970, they have increased the number of pupils in primary schools threefold.
1832Maginn in Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 427 The absurd etiquette which prevents [them] from following any profession save the Army, the Navy, *Black-apronry, and Black-leggery.
1907W. A. Orton U.S. Farmers' Bull. cccii. 41 There is a bacterial disease of cotton (Bacterium malvacearum)..producing various symptoms and receiving various names, such as angular leaf-spot, *black-arm, boll-spot, etc. 1939Nature 14 Oct. 676/2 (title) Genetics of Blackarm Resistance in Cotton.
1973Telegraph (Brisbane) 25 Aug. 4/1 An [F.B.I.] agent..said he engaged in about a dozen illegal ‘*black bag jobs’ during his career. 1977Time 21 Nov. 50/3 As head of the domestic intelligence division for a decade, Sullivan was involved in many abuses including ‘black bag’ operating and illegal wiretapping of National Security Council phones.
1857Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. xiv. (1876) 252 Admixture of coaly matter which confers on these *black-bands their especial value. 1863Smiles Indust. Biog. 160 The Black Band ironstone.
1792E. Riou tr. J. van Reenen's Jrnl. Journey from Cape Good Hope 29 Extensive handsome gardens, planted with kaffer corn, maize,..*black beans. 1863A. Gray Man. Botany (ed. 4) p. xliv, Egyptian or Black Bean, cultivated for ornament, rarely for its beans..seeds black or tawny with a white scar. 1895J. H. Maiden in Agric. Gaz. N.S.W. V. 1 Because of the dark colour of the wood, and partly by way of distinction from the red bean, it is usually known by timber merchants as black bean. 1912C. H. B. Quennell in L. Weaver Home & Equipm. 58 The bookcase illustrated has been made in a new Australian wood called ‘black bean’. 1937E. Hemingway To have & have Not i. ii. 35, I had black bean soup and a beef stew.
1710*Black body [see black a. 1 a]. 1895H. F. Reid in Astrophysical Jrnl. II. 161 It is curious that a really black body, the most important in the theory of radiation, has not so far been used by experimenters. 1919T. Preston Theory of Heat (ed. 3) vi. 559 The intensity of black-body radiation. 1923Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics IV. 568/1 Suppose that we have a substance with the property that all radiation falling on its surface is completely absorbed. This is called a black body. 1928F. K. Richtmyer Mod. Physics vii. 183 The ‘black body’ may radiate, as well as absorb, energy. Such radiation is called ‘black body’ radiation. 1957Encycl. Brit. III. 679/1 The black-body temperature of a source like the sun is the temperature at which a black body would emit radiation of the same intensity.
1963Daily Tel. 16 Oct. 23/1 Police who raided the house found..100 methydrine tablets and 99 ‘*Black Bomber’ pills. 1964Lancet 29 Aug. 452/1 The preparations in circulation apparently included ‘black bombers’ (‘Durophet’, a mixture of the two amphetamines).
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxix. 136 He never dranke but in a fayre *blacke boule. 1568Like to Like in Hazl. Dodsl. III. 324 From morning till night I sit tossing the black bowl.
1945Partridge Dict. R.A.F. Slang 16 *Black box or gen box, instrument that enables bomb-aimer to see through clouds or in the dark. 1947Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LI. 432/1 These British night fighters were crammed with ‘black boxes’ all of which had to be operated by the pilot or his navigator. 1948A. P. Rowe One Story of Radar i. 6 For many years the ‘death ray’ had been a hardy annual among optimistic inventors. The usual claim was that by means of a ray emanating from a secret device (known to us in the Air Ministry as a Black Box) the inventor had killed rabbits at short distances. 1953Jrnl. Brit. Interplan. Soc. XII. 223 As far as the layman is concerned, a phantastron is a ‘black box’ which will divide the frequency of its output pulses by any integral number between 2 and 20. 1956W. R. Ashby Introd. Cybernetics vi. 86 Black Box theory is..even wider in application than these professional studies. Ibid., In our daily lives we are confronted at every turn with systems whose internal mechanisms are not fully open to inspection, and which must be treated by the methods appropriate to the Black Box. 1962Daily Tel. 14 Nov. 1/3 Russia advocated the use of unmanned seismic detection stations, known as ‘black boxes’ to Western scientists, as a means of avoiding inspection. 1964Ibid. 3 July 25/5 The flight recorder is an indestructible ‘black box’ which automatically records the key functions in the aircraft... The ‘black box’ can..tell what went wrong in a crash. 1964Economist 25 July 356/1 Silent ‘black boxes’—electronic computers which measure the varying demand for power of the Savannah.
1888W. T. Blanford Mammalia 521 Antilope cervicapra. The Indian Antilope or *black Buck. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXV. 453/2 Antelope.. properly denotes the Indian black buck, which alone constitutes the genus Antilope, with the title of A. cervicapra.
1898J. L. Waugh ‘Mumper’ 104 I'se warrant ye hae nae *black bun or currant loaf to first-fit wi'. 1929F. M. McNeill Scots Kitchen 188 Black bun, a festive cake at Hogmanay. Big blue raisins, currants, sweet almonds; orange, lemon, and citron peel; flour, Demerara sugar, ground cloves or cinnamon, ground ginger, Jamaica pepper, black pepper, baking soda, buttermilk or eggs, brandy; crust; flour, butter, water. 1958Spectator 30 May 698/2 We could have done with something more like a haggis and less like a black bun.
1808Jane Austen Let. 27 Dec. (1932) I. 241 Our *black butter..was neither solid nor entirely sweet... Miss Austen had said she did not think it had been boiled enough. 1877E. S. Dallas Kettner's Bk. of Table 96 Black Butter—the French Beurre noir, much used for skate, for calf's brains, and the like. 1895G. A. Sala Thorough Good Cook 470/1 Black butter sauce. 1906Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. x. 273 Black Butter Sauce. Ingredients—1½ ozs. of butter, 1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley, ½ a teaspoonful of vinegar. 1962Listener 23 Aug. 299/1 Serve them [sc. mackerel] hot with black-butter sauce. To make the sauce..melt 2 ounces of butter until it is dark brown but not burnt, and then throw chopped parsley into it and let it fry for a few seconds only.
a1672Wood Life (1848) 156 The abbey there, originally built for *Black Canons. 1722J. Stevens Addit. Dugdale's Monast. II. 69 By reason of their black Habit, worn over their white Surplices..generally call'd either Black Canons, or Canons of St. Augustin.
1751Johnson Rambl. No. 177 ⁋6 Books..printed in the *black character.
1620*Black Clock [see clock n.3]. 1886in F. Podmore Apparitions & Thought Transf. (1894) vii. 169 He found a ‘blackclock’ (i.e. cockroach) floating in his coffee. 1944S. Chaplin in Penguin New Writing XXII. 106 Living in that rat, mice, bug and blackclock infested area.
1627R. Perrot Jacob's Vow 52 Let us take heed how these *blackcoates get the day of us. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. i, You are the black⁓coat's son of Knocktarlitie. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit. ix. 197 The black-coats are good company only for black-coats. 1920Times Weekly 19 Nov. 427 (heading) Rights of ‘Black Coats’. 1940Archit. Rev. LXXXVII. 110/1 Both these sorts of public house are essentially working class; the blackcoat's pub is another sort of place. 1945H. J. Massingham in F. Thompson Lark Rise to Candleford p. ix, It was the vanguard of the city black-coats and proletariat, governed by the mass-mind.
1893Jrnl. Soc. Arts 14 Apr. 506/1 The young fellow who will devote himself to agriculture..in New Zealand..may do even better than the youth who wins his way to the *black-coated servitude of a bank. 1902Westm. Gaz. 11 Aug. 7/3 A serried rank of the black-coated. 1928Britain's Industr. Future iii. xiv. §6. 158 The workers are apt to be suspicious of ‘black-coated’ unions. 1932D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase i. 12 He can't be a fisherman or anything of that kind; they don't waste time snoozing. Only the black-coated brigade does that. 1937Daily Herald 5 Jan. 3 London's blackcoated workers are to hold a mass meeting in the Albert Hall.
1840Daily Picayune (New Orleans) 30 July 2/1 A black man..[will] be tried before Judge Preval, under the *Black Code. 1876Congress. Rec. 9 Aug. 5347/2, I hold in my hand the laws of the Legislature of South Carolina passed in the session of 1865–'66... Among the very first acts that they passed was the act which is known all over this country and all over the world as the ‘black code’ of South Carolina, a code that should disgrace every one of its authors.
[a1826R. Heber Narr. Journey India (1828) II. xxv. 168 A black soil, with many deep cracks, chiefly cultivated in cotton.] 1838Penny Cycl. XII. 205/1 On the whole surface of the table-land [of the Deccan] a black soil prevails, which, from being favourable to the growth of cotton, has been called the *black cotton ground, or regur. 1844W. H. Sleeman Rambles & Recoll. I. xiv. 123 The soil of the valley of the Nerbudda..is formed for the most part of the detritus of trap-rocks... This basaltic detritus forms what is called the black cotton soil by the English, for what reason I know not. 1882Geikie Text-bk. Geol. iii. ii. 442 The ‘regur’, or rich black cotton soil of India. 1935Thomas & Scott Uganda vii. 116 The top soil is very sticky when wet and cracks badly on drying... In its extreme form it is almost uncultivable and is known (quite erroneously since it will not grow cotton) as ‘black cotton soil’. 1960M. Perham Lugard 1898–1945 iii. 51 The black cotton-soil plains of Bornu [Nigeria], flat dry land patched with thorn-scrub.
1834J. C. Young Mem. C. M. Young (1871) 212 In the densely-populated *black country. 1864Daily Tel. 12 Dec., By night the Black Country blazes up lurid and red with fires which..are never extinguished.
1889H. Saunders Man. Brit. Birds 379 The Glossy Ibis. Plegadis falcinellus (Linnæus)..was known to gunners and fishermen as the ‘*Black Curlew’.
1911M. Henry in Agric. Gaz. N.S.W. XXII. 111 The post-mortem appearances in general are all indicative of ‘*black disease’. Ibid., In ‘black disease’, so far as is known, sheep about 20 months and 2 years old are principally affected. 1918S. Dodd in Jrnl. Comp. Path. & Therap. XXXI. 2 Two explanations of the origin of the term black disease are given, viz., (1) on account of the dark appearance of the liver of animals dead of the disease; (2) because of the dark colour assumed by the under surface of the skin. 1932Discovery Dec. 401/2 Research on the black disease of sheep..showed that the malady is caused through infection following injury to the liver by the young fluke.
1909Westm. Gaz. 22 Oct. 4/2 When..there is no possibility of catching a salmon except by that engine of death, the ‘*Black Doctor’—the three big hooks tied back to back and dragged along the floor of a pool.
1899Daily News 3 July 5/6 The convict Billinge is what is known as a ‘*Black dress’ man, being thus distinguished because of his bad conduct.
1966C. Hayashi in Stein & Cameron Stellar Evolution iii. 199 These stars evolve towards *black dwarfs along the surface condition. 1978Pasachoff & Kutner University Astron. x. 284 Some black dwarfs come from featherweight stars.., stars that were not massive enough to begin hydrogen burning; others are cooled white dwarfs. 1982Sci. Amer. Jan. 69/2 Virtually all stars and galaxies will have yielded to internal gravitational forces and collapsed to form black dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes.
1842Proc. Geol. Soc. III. 712 (title) On the Tchornoi Zem, or *Black Earth of Central Russia. 1905Athenæum 5 Aug. 175/1 The black-earth country of the south. 1935Huxley & Haddon We Europeans vii. 198 The black-earth belt of Russia. 1955G. V. Jacks Multiling. Vocab. Soil Sci. 310 Black earth, general term including chernozem and dark plastic clays of tropics.
1969T. L. Cross Black Capitalism vi. 162 Another special need of the *black economy is for loans. 19722nd Nat. Symposium State of Black Econ. 21 Far too many black Americans find it easier to praise the black economy than to live in it. 1978Washington Post 18 Jan. a1 When placed against the statistics of blacks still in poverty, they indicate the disturbing quality of the black economy—a slow-growing black middle-class and an increasingly jobless lower economic class. 1978Financial Times 31 May 18/1 The existence of a black economy does lead to the understatement of activity when we are concerned with such things as decorating, building, motor repairs and the like. 1985Daily Tel. 30 Mar. 16/2 There are..many ways in which we are not like those..Americans, but the rise of the black economy suggests that indifference to financial gain is not one of them.
[1734S. Carolina Gaz. 30 Mar. 3/2 To be sold... Four young Negroe Men Slaves and a Girl, who..speak very good (Black-)English.] 1969Wolfram & Fasold in Baratz & Shuy Teaching Black Children to Read 139 Even in the rural South, *Black English is characteristically different from the speech of the lower socio-economic class white. 1978English Jrnl. Dec. 7/1 There are dozens of standard kinds of Black English, which vary from Detroit to Chicago to Mobile to Albuquerque. 1981Amer. Speech LVI. 163 Others deny that such a creole played a role in the development of modern black English.
1577R. Barnes Charge 16 in Newcastle Tracts (1847) VI. 16 That no..superfluous faste be vsed as those called the Lady fast saint trinyons fast, the *black faste.
1738F. Moore Trav. Africa 191 Natives, who had been got up together at the Persuasion of a *Black Fellow. 1828New Monthly Mag. XXIII. 220 The fish are so abundant that a black fellow with a seine, can load a bullock-cart at one or two hauls. 1831Tyerman & Benn. Voy. & Trav. II. xxxvii. 158 In his opinion, the best use which could be made of ‘the black fellows’ would be, to shoot them all. 1865Intell. Observ. No. 37. 15 Panther-like approach of the Blackfellow. 1925Austral. Encycl. I. 496/1 Near decaying stumps or roots of eucalypts rounded lumps varying in size from a pin's head to a human head, and known to most people as ‘blackfellows' bread’ are often found. 1935Bulletin (Sydney) 8 May 21/1 Quite good pipes can be carved out of a fungus known as ‘blackfellow's bread’, which can be dug up almost anywhere on the far South Coast of N.S.W.
1891Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. XII. 164 Small fragment of a *black-figure cylix. 1930J. D. Beazley in Proc. Brit. Acad. XIV. 217 (title) Attic Black-Figure. 1948A. Lane Gk. Pottery iii. 19 This orientalising phase of the seventh century saw also the introduction of polychrome painting and the ‘black figure’ technique, wherein black-painted silhouette figures were enriched with detail incised in the yet unfired clay.
1858S. Birch Hist. Anc. Pottery I. iii. 224 The subjects represented on the *black figured vases. 1890Verrall & Harrison Anc. Athens 432 It [sc . the vase] is of the finest early black-figured style, not later than the time of the sixth and fifth centuries b.c.
1602J. Brereton Discov. Virginia 13 Beares. Luzernes. *Blacke Foxes. 1826J. D. Godman Amer. Nat. Hist. I. 276 The black fox is found throughout the northern parts of America..where it is considered among the richest and most valuable of furs. 1922C. T. Barnes Mammals of Utah 120 Black Fox, Silver Fox, Vulpes fulva argentata..[is] uniform lustrous black with a distinct white tip to the tail.
1918L. E. Ruggles Navy Explained 24 The engineer's division is always known as the ‘*black gang’. 1923R. D. Paine Comr. Rolling Ocean iii. 44 There wasn't a smarter man in the black gang.
1910Sunset XXV. 173 (title) California's *black gold: the romance of the oil gushers. 1926H. C. Witwer Roughly Speaking 27 Gold—black gold—this farm is a hotbed of oil! 1948South Bend (Ind.) Tribune 3 Apr. 5/1 The ‘Black Gold’ of the farm belt—grunting hogs—is beginning to tarnish. 1969Punch 19 Mar. 401/3 Tankers which leave the Gulf with 200,000 tons of black gold come to Milford Haven with nothing but a cargo of pullulating bacteria.
1710Toland Refl. Sacheverell's Serm. 12 That great Company of *Black-Gowns, commanded in chief by..Doctor Lancaster. 1804C. B. Brown tr. Volney's Climate & Soil U.S.A. 409 This is as difficult to the black gowns as to ourselves. 1872Amer. Naturalist VI. 94 Everywhere among the western Indians the Jesuits were known by the name of Blackgowns.
1814in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1815) III. 121 The wood is chiefly *black growth, viz. hemlock and spruce. 1851S. Judd Margaret (ed. 2) i. xvii. 215 Yet there are, what by a kind of provincial misnomer is called the black growth, pines and firs.
1898Harper's Weekly 12 Nov. 1100/2 The secret society called—from its picturesque method of warning its victims—the ‘*Black Hand’ is a political organization known to have existed in the island before the beginning of the American war with Spain. 1904N.Y. Tribune 31 July 2 For months the black hand society has been forcing Italians to contribute to its treasury with threats of death. 1905Westm. Gaz. 5 Jan. 6/3 The notorious Italian blackmailing gang which has been given the name of the ‘Black Hand Society’. 1906Ibid. 2 June 9/3 La Mano Negra, the famous revolutionary Black Hand Society. 1923L. J. Vance Baroque viii. 49 The Wop detective that used to play horse with the Black Handers.
1707Mortimer Husb. 546 In June are ripe the White, Red, *Black and Bleeding Hearts. 1833Tennyson Blackbird 7 The unnetted black hearts ripen dark..against the garden wall. 1910Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. LXXXII. 477 In the American black-heart process low sulphur-irons are used. 1917Ibid. XCVI. 330 For the most part, Americans do not machine their malleable castings, and hence they use ‘black-heart’, which is ordinary cast iron when the decarburised skin is taken off... ‘Black-heart’ castings were not suitable for certain purposes. 1962B.S.I. News June 12/2 Methods of test for blackheart, whiteheart and pearlitic malleable iron.
1910H. P. Tiemann Iron & Steel 22 *Black heat; black hot, a temperature just below a visible red. 1958Good Housekeeping Oct. 133/2 Most electric convectors give what is known as a black heat, which means that the element is made from a special, low resistance, thick wire which does not glow. 1962Newnes Encycl. Electr. Engin. 365/2 Infra-red rays may be produced electrically by utilizing a ‘dull emitter’ resistance element operating at black heat.
1861Chambers's Encycl. s.v. Cameo, The *Black Helmet..has a dark onyx ground. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 740 The black helmet (Cassis tuberosa) of the West Indian seas.
1797Camb. Univ. Calend. 147 The Non-Regents or *Black-hoods are those who have taken their master of arts' degree five years or upwards.
1829J. MacTaggart Three Years in Canada I. 66 The most compact *black ice anywhere to be found. 1922Wright & Priestley Glaciology x. 325 Large sheets of fresh ‘black’ ice a very few inches thick..had evidently formed between the floes. 1941T. A. H. Peacocke Mountaineering v. 64 There is white ice which is really a form of very hard snow, and there is black ice, the real thing. Ibid., Black ice is seldom met with..except..when the snow has been stripped from the peaks by the fierce heat of the sun. [Black] ice slopes can generally be detected by a glint or gleam, for they reflect the sun's rays much like a piece of glass. 1961Guardian 28 Dec. 1/3 Roads in many places were covered with black ice which was hard to detect at night.
1849Thackeray Lett. (1887) 91 An expatriated parson..who gets his living by *black jobs entirely and attends all the funerals of our country-men. 1876W. P. Lennox Celebrities I. xii. 313 The ‘black job’ business.
1851P. Barry Fruit Garden 364 The Plum Wart or *Black Knot..originates..from an imperfect circulation of the sap. 1884W. Miller Dict. Names Plants 252 Sphæria mortosa, ‘Black knot’ fungus. 1915Board Agric. & Fisheries Leaflet No. 213 Gooseberry Black-knot (Plowrightia ribesia, Sacc.). The fungus..causing this disease is closely related to Plowrightia morbosa, Sacc., the widely distributed ‘black-knot’ of plum and cherry trees in the United States and Canada.
[1785H. Marshall Amer. Grove 104 Black American Larch-Tree.] 1803Lambert Descr. Genus Pinus I. 56 *Black Larch, P[inus] pendula,..shews itself only in the cold mountainous parts of North America.
1907Westm. Gaz. 11 Mar. 13/1 At the last meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, three examples of the *black-lark (Melanocorypha yeltoniensis) were exhibited. 1953Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles II. 4 Black lark..is another very large lark, more closely resembling a blackbird in size but with a short stumpy bill and a short tail.
1936E. J. G. Lewis Television 80 In high definition systems signals below about 37·5 per cent (Baird) or 30 per cent (Marconi–E.M.I.) of the peak carrier represent synchronizing signals and occur below the ‘artificial *black’ level. 1938Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers LXXXIII. 744/2 The intermediate amplifier received the output from the master oscillator and raised it to a level of 1·2 kW at black level. 1942Electronic Engin. XV. 127 Among the novel features of the design are..keyed diodes for black-level setting. 1953Amos & Birkinshaw Television Engin. I. i. 17 The picture signal voltage at any point in a television system varies between two limits, one representing the maximum brightness it is intended to transmit and known as white level and the other representing zero tonal value or black and known as black level.
1927Daily Tel. 21 Feb. 7/4 Mr. John L. Baird..described what he calls ‘*black light’... This..makes it possible to see without any visible light. 1933Trans. Illumin. Engineering Soc. XXVIII. 618 The ‘black bulb’ ultraviolet lamp..can be easily concealed..projecting invisible radiations of ‘black light’ on to luminous designs painted on the walls. 1937Discovery Nov. 348/2 ‘Black light’ contains a large proportion of ultra-violet rays, which, when they impinge upon specially prepared surfaces, cause these to luminesce. 1957Encycl. Brit. IX. 426D (Plate 1: caption) Photograph of white girl made in the dark by black light.
1797Month. Rev. XXII. 345 Multitudinous porers in *black literature.
1972Guardian 19 Sept. 13/7 *Black money is a vast parallel economy of billions of rupees in cash transactions that never reach the tax collector. 1977N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 June 16/4 Erlich has also promised an amnesty for those who reveal their black money and pay a tax on it. 1981S. Rushdie Midnight's Children iii. 418 All sorts of things happen during an Emergency: trains run on time, black-money hoarders are frightened into paying taxes.
1964Review Jan. 3 (heading) The *Black Mountain poets. 1966New Statesman 11 Feb. 198/1 The latest school of American poets..goes by the name of ‘Black Mountain’, from a small college in North Carolina where in the early Fifties Charles Olson..taught. 1977Fontana Dict. Mod. Thought 67/2 The key to the Black Mountain poetics is to be found in American pragmatism as exemplified by John Dewey, with its accompanying blind optimism. 1983Christian Science Monitor 13 May 88 Along with his associates of the Black Mountain School, Creeley strove to invigorate and enlarge midcentury American writing.
1966New Statesman 198/3 The good *Black Mountaineers are still internationalists. 1970Listener 23 July 122/2 It is worth noting in Dorn's favour that not all the Black Mountaineers can write, viz. Robert Duncan's atrocious hodge-podge of Yeats and Bridges. 1877Littell's Living Age 24 Nov. 501/1 In one of the houses in Scotland Yard..is the ‘*Black Museum’, in which, during the last three years, pièces de conviction, which until then had been kept indiscriminately with the other property of criminals, have been arranged and labelled, forming a ghastly, squalid, and suggestive show. 1902A. Griffiths Myst. Police & Crime III. xxxiii. 124 Some very beautiful implements are now exhibited in the Black Museum of New Scotland Yard... Amongst these..are some of the tools used by the notorious Charles Peace. 1926G. Dilnot Story Scotl. Yard xxxvii. 303 Round about 1875 the Black Museum came into being, ostensibly for the instruction of young officers, though for long afterwards it was, in fact, little more than a show place, wherein privileged visitors might see the grim relics of great crimes.
1960San Francisco News-Call Bulletin 11 Oct. 4/2 *Black Muslim leaders concede there are many ex-convicts, former prostitutes, drug addicts, and alcoholics in the movement, but they put a different interpretation on this than the police. 1961C. E. Lincoln Black Muslims in Amer. p. iv, The racial emphases peculiar to this rapidly growing, Chicago-centred movement suggested the descriptive phrase ‘Black Muslims’, which I coined in 1956... Theretofore they had been variously known as the ‘Temple People’, ‘the Muhammadans’, ‘the Muslims’, ‘the Voodoo Cult’ and ‘the Nation of Islam’. 1964Punch 1 Apr. 505/1 Black Muslim claims to an African heritage. 1968E. Cleaver Soul on Ice ii. 96 A racist Black Muslim heavyweight champion is a bitter pill for racist white America to swallow. 1968M. A. Malik From Michael de Freitas to Michael X xv. 131, I read as much as I could about the Black Muslims in the Press, but they were presented more or less as a bunch of lunatics.
1962E. U. Essien-Udom (title) *Black nationalism: a search for identity in America. 1963N.Y. Times 23 Apr. 2/1 A new assertive mood, characterized by some Negro leaders as ‘Black Nationalism’ is spreading throughout the United States. 1967New Yorker 7 Jan. 20/1 In one form or another, it [sc. the theme] has nearly always been—black nationalism—from the West Indian brand of Marcus Garvey and his followers to the more militant brand of Charles (Morriss). 1977Washington Post 11 Jan. a1 It is failing to provide the Afrikaners with a ‘moral alternative’ to the use of force in containing black nationalism. 1983N.Y. Times 9 Nov. c23/4 In the breadth of her concept, the playwright was prescient, touching on such issues as black nationalism and capitalism at the same time that she links her characters to their enslaved ancestors.
1963Life 24 May 4/2 The Negro's feeling that the white man's law has failed him is polarized by extreme *black nationalists. 1970New Society 5 Mar. 384/3 For journalists it was like covering American Black Nationalists in 1963. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia II. 1093/1 The Black Muslims..are a quasi-religious black nationalist organization among Afro-Americans.
1874W. Gregor Echo of Olden Time iii. 22 The oil used was made from the livers of the haddock, cod, ling, and other fish caught on the coast, and was distinguished by the name of *black oil. 1896B. Redwood Petroleum II. ix. 532 Lubricating Oils..‘pale’ oils..‘black’ oils..‘compound’ oils. Ibid. 532 Black oils should be free from solid matter in suspension. 1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 54/1 Black oils, mineral oils which have not been chemically purified. 1962Listener 10 May 796/1 The consumption of oil, to be exact of the so-called black oils, rose 249 per cent.
1965San Francisco Examiner 20 Dec. 53/8 SNCC has chosen a black panther to adorn its party emblem—a requirement of parties in Alabama..SNCC's ‘*black panther’ movement is viewed by some as a form of black nationalism at the local level. 1966Economist 19 Nov. 807/3 Good sense (or fear of white retaliation) led Negroes in Lowndes County, Alabama, to reject the ‘Black Panthers’, who stand for ‘black power’. 1969E. Cleaver Post-Prison Writings 23, I fell in love with the Black Panther Party immediately upon my first encounter with it. 1970Idiot International Jan. 11/1 The Black Panthers put before the June Convention a proposal for community control of police.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Black plates,..thin sheets of iron not coated with tin. 1962Engineering 16 Mar. 372/1 Continuous annealing of blackplate has been made more than ten times faster.
1927Bull. Dept. Agric. Gold Coast No. 11, p. 15 In the early morning..pods suffering from *black pod disease are coated by mildew. 1945Rep. Cocoa Research Conf. 76 ‘Black pod’ accounted for a loss in Nigeria now of not much less than 10,000 tons... Places which were most susceptible to ‘black pod’ were the wetter areas in Ife and Oyo Provinces. 1953Economist 19 Dec. 917/1 The outlook for the Nigerian [cocoa] crop is uncertain... The poor weather..increases the risk of black pod disease.
1966Times 27 June 1/4 Young Negroes.., supporters of the ‘*black power’ group led by Mr Stokely Carmichael. 1966Guardian 28 June 8/1 The emergence of the slogan ‘black power’, proclaimed by the supporters of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee. 1967Carmichael & Hamilton Black Power ii. 44 The concept of Black Power..is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to begin to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations and to support those organizations. It is a call to reject the racist institutions and values of this society. 1967Listener 5 Oct. 423/1 The word ‘black power’..for most Negroes..means the exercise of legitimate power of numbers at the polls, in the market-place and in the community, whereas for many whites it means an open threat to use physical force to gain objectives. 1968W. Safire New Lang. Politics 40/1 Black power, a deliberately ambiguous Negro slogan, meaning antiwhite rebellion to some, the use of political and economic ‘muscle’ to others.
1888Lockwood's Dict. Terms Mech. Engin., *Black Print.
1962Guardian 16 Nov. 7/5 The ‘*black’ propaganda of ‘Lord Haw-Haw’. 1965B. Sweet-Escott Baker St. Irregular i. 29 Neither of these bodies had the job of doing ‘black’ or unacknowledgeable propaganda in neutral countries or for that matter anywhere else. 1972F. Fitzgerald Fire in Lake iii. 76 Their tactics were promises and ‘black propaganda’, or the falsification of enemy reports. 1976Black propaganda [see propaganda 3].
1834W. Youatt Cattle xi. 356 Inflammatory fever..is termed *black quarter, quarter evil, [etc.]. 1879Wrightson in Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 78 Land drainage is..followed by the disappearance of ‘black-quarter,’ or inflammatory fever.
1533Calend. Carew MSS. (Rolls Ser.) No. 39 The *black rents and tributes which Irishmen by violence have obtained of the King's subjects. 1612Sir J. Davies Why Ireland etc. 179 To abolish the black-rents and tributes exacted by the Irish upon the English colonies. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xviii. 359 The inhabitants..were hardly distinguishable from the Irish, and paid them a tribute called black-rent.
1811J. Black tr. Humboldt's Political Essay I. 116 The Canadian savages call themselves Metoktheniakes, born of the sun, without allowing themselves to be persuaded of the contrary by the *black robes, a name which they give to missionaries. 1840N. P. Willis Canad. Scenery I. 24 They exhorted her to take it into the woods, where the blackrobes, as they called the Christian priests, would not be able to find her. 1907J. W. Schultz My Life as Indian xvii. 189 ‘I will pray to those gods for you. Long ago..a Blackrobe..taught me the way,’ and she began... 'Twas the Lord's prayer! 1976Canad. Collector (Toronto) Jan.–Feb. 20/1 Most of these French Canadians remembered the religion they had learned at home and were eager for the Men of Prayer or Blackrobes to come to..minister to them.
1709W. Byrd Secret Diary 13 Feb. (1941) 4, I sent him some *blackroot..for the gripes. 1833A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 6) 288 Pterocaulon pycnostachya, black root. 1843T. Talbot Jrnl. 8 Sept. (1931) 45 We traded some Kooyah or Black root,..a black, sticky, suspicious looking compound, of very disagreeable odor. 1851C. Cist Sk. & Stat. Cincinnati 211 Concentrated extracts of vegetable medical articles..such as..leptandrin or black-root extracts. 1910G. Massee Dis. Cultiv. Plants 160 Black root rot (Thielavia basicola,..) was first met with in England on the roots of peas. 1954A. G. L. Hellyer Encycl. Gard. Work & Terms 208/2 Black root rot..is found most commonly on peas, violas and violets.
1850Rep. Comm. Patents: Agric. 1849 (U.S.) 438 In the southern part of the State winter apples are very liable to the *black-rot, spots, [etc.]. 1957Encycl. Brit. X. 640/1 Europeans imported the American varieties [of grape-vine], and thereby unwittingly imported phylloxera..and black rot (Guignardia bidwellii).
1887C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 90 The *black-rubber vine, known to the natives as ‘Duah Kurrie’.
1790S. Deane New-Eng. Farmer 20/1 The pods are liable to be hurt by a *black rust, if they are exposed much to the sun. 1931Discovery Aug. 260/1 The problem in Kenya with regard to wheat is that two different strains of black rust occur in the main wheat-growing areas.
1957Ann. Reg. 1956 91 The ‘*Black Sash’ movement, consisting of women pledged to ‘defence of the Constitution’, organized ‘vigils’ of protest in the larger towns.
1908*Black scab [see scab n. 2 b]. 1915Board Agric. & Fisheries Leaflet (1916) No. 105. 1 Wart Disease (Black Scab) of Potatoes. (Synchytrium endobioticum.)..In recent years a variety of other names such as Black Wart and Potato Wart have been given to it.
1881J. H. Comstock in Rep. U.S. Dept. Agric. 1880 336 Lecanium Oleae Bernard. The *Black Scale of California. 1930Discovery Apr. 135/2 The little ladybird has been enlisted to fight the black-scale pest in California.
1942C. G. Grey & Dale U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. MCMXIV. 15 Swine Dysentery is also known as..bloody diarrhea, bloody scours, bloody dysentery, bloody flux, *black scours, and colitis. 1947New Biol. III. 59 Species of Trichostrongylus often cause a blackish-green diarrhoea, which is called ‘black scour’ by some farmers.
1863Prior Plant-n. 24 *Black-seed, the Nonesuch, from its black head of legumes.
1972Times 6 Sept. 7/3 The *Black September organization, the secret cell of Al Fatah, has links with Germany's revolutionary underground movement. 1972Guardian 4 Oct. 3/7 The Black Septembrists, like most Palestinians, cannot seriously believe that sporadic letter bombs, kidnappings, and hijackings..can ever liberate Palestine. 1983Washington Post 27 Nov. b1 Two guerrillas from Black September wanted to visit the castle at the top of Bkechtine.
1895Daily News 18 Feb. 2/5 *Black sheets for galvanisers. 1930Engineering 21 Feb. 254/3 In the black-sheet trade.
1894Daily News 22 Nov. 8/1 Deep crape and distinctive headgear have been dropped at the end of six months, the period known technically as ‘*black silk’ then setting in.
1845R. I. Murchison et al. Geol. Russia in Europe I. xxii. 559 The *black soil does not, however, occupy all the vast country alluded to. 1908N. M. Tulaïkoff in Jrnl. Agric. Sci. III. 82 Black soils (Tchernozem)..cover generally the grassy steppe or prairies of the temperate zone. 1914H. I. Jensen Soils of N.S.W. x. 47 In Australia we can find..black-soil plains (pasture and agriculture, maize and gourds). 1936W. Lawson When Cobb & Co. was King xiv. 263 The black-soil plains, which can be so bare in drought-time..were green with short grass. 1959M. Hastings Hour-Glass to Eternity i. ii. 40 What we call black soil areas. They're covered in kunai grass..no trees will grow in that soil.
1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. iii. iii, This too fond heart o' mine..a *black-sole true to thee.
[1861Lady Duff-Gordon Let. 18 Nov. in Last Lett. fr. Egypt (1875) 227 Alas! next day came the south-easter—blacker, colder, more cutting than ever.] 1870Cape Monthly Mag. Dec. 357 Then we are sometimes blessed with a *black south-easter... The mountain is then quite buried in cloud, the air is laden with moisture, the winds run howling hither and thither,..the rain descends. 1950L. G. Green Daybreak for Isles vi. 74 In the middle of January 1844 a ‘black south-easter’, the wind most feared in summer on this coast, forced most of the fleet to run for open sea.
1848H. W. Haygarth Bush Life Australia ix. 98 A narrow rill, rising out of some rich dark soil, known in Australia as a ‘*black spring’.
1946A. Monkman in H. Whetton Pract. Printing iv. 56/2 Another style of signature which has become popular in bookwork offices is known as the *black-step method... A piece of rule, about 6 points thick and 24 points long, is placed between the first and last pages (or spine) of each section... For the first section the rule would be positioned opposite the top line of text. The next section would have the rule stepped down, say 24 points, and so on through the sections.
1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, *Black strap, bene carlo wine, also port. 1821Blackw. Mag. X. 105 What champaigne is to homely black strap. 1823Lockhart Reg. Dalton i. x. 60 Do they give you good black strap at Oxford? 1842J. W. Orderson Creol. i. 5 The planter being content to..make an evening's finish with bub or black-strap.
1880*Black stripe [see stripe n. 9]. 1927Smallholder 26 Mar. 104/2 If any [sc. tomato plants] have very finely cut, lace-like leaves, take them out... These plants have contracted Black Stripe disease.
1968Economist 28 Dec. 24/1 They also demand ‘*black studies’ classes, devoted to Negro culture, history or arts. 1973Baskin & Runes Dict. Black Culture 53 Black studies..now include courses in African history and religions, Swahili, and Afro-American literature, economics, and social and political thought. 1983Sunday Tel. 4 Dec. 14/3 The attempts to force schoolchildren to learn about reggae and Rastafarianism in schools as part of ‘Black studies’.
1954T. Ronan Vision Splendid 264 The best bloody station bookkeeper this side of the *black stump. 1973Guardian 5 Mar. 14/1 Douglas Gas Light Company, arguably the smallest gas works this side of the black stump. 1975X. Herbert Poor Fellow my Country 1149 I've been played for the biggest mug this side o' the Black Stump.
1787Beattie Scotticisms 15 *Black sugar, Licuorice juice. 1864J. Brown Plain Wds. Health v. 76 A bit of black sugar.
1969J. H. Cone Black Theol. & Black Power ii. 31 There is, then, a desperate need for a *black theology, a theology whose sole purpose is to apply the freeing power of the gospel to black people under white oppression. 1976Christian Believing 31 We see this spirit still at work in such new guises as the Latin-American ‘theology of liberation’ and in ‘Black theology’, which employ the biblical writings as aids to a dialogue with and illumination of their own existential situation. 1983J. H. Cone in Richardson & Bowden New Dict. Christian Theol. 74/1 The publication of the ‘Black Power’ statement [in July 1966] may be regarded as the beginning of the conscious development of a black theology in which black ministers consciously separated their understanding of the gospel of Jesus from white Christianity.
1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. xxiii. 603 Tom..had sent on his *black tie and agate studs. 1933J. B. Priestly Wonder Hero iv. 102 Not tails, I think... Not in character. Essentially a black tie part. 1936R. C. K. Ensor England, 1870–1914 xv. 555 Till some time after 1914 there was no rigorous division between a white-tie and a black-tie ensemble, such as now compels gentlemen to keep two sets of evening dress. 1951I. Shaw Troubled Air x. 165 Mary Lowell called to ask us..for dinner next Wednesday. Black tie.
1848A. H. Clough Bothie of Tober-na-Fuosich 5 Hope was the first, *black-tied, white-waistcoated.
1834Amer. Railroad Jrnl. III. 120/3 A disease in horses and cattle [is] called the *Black Tongue or Burnt Tongue. 1845W. Bagley Let. 20 Mar. in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 260 A very fatal disease has been ravaging the counties of Edgecomb & Northampton, it is called the ‘black tongue’, the patient dies in six hours after he is taken & very few cures are effected. 1858C. L. Flint Milch Cows (1860) 281 Typhoid fever..is sometimes followed by diseases known as black tongue, black leg, or quarter evil. 1919J. P. Dunn Indiana II. 804 In 1842–3 epidemic erysipelas prevailed in a number of counties in southern Indiana, and was known by a number of popular names, as ‘black tongue’, ‘sore throat’, etc. 1960Runnells & Monlux Princ. Vet. Path. (ed. 6) 65/2 Dogs fed exclusively on a cereal diet..develop a niacin deficiency disease called blacktongue.
1877Rep. Vermont Dairym. Assoc. VIII. 107 *Black tooth is a popular disease of swine.
1867J. Morison Australia as it Is 88 The native police, or ‘*black trackers’,..are a body of aborigines trained to act as policemen. 1952R. E. Robinson in Coast to Coast 1951–52 213 The black-tracker, in his police boy's shirt, trousers, and hat, was with them.
1937‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier i. i. 7 The grey flocculent stuff known as ‘*black tripe’. 1961Guardian 29 Sept. 13/6 Yorkshiremen know how succulent it [sc. tripe] is—and how varied:..there are..‘black’ tripe (unbleached), [etc.].
1939A. L. du Toit Geol. S. Afr. (ed. 2) xix. 442 Black ‘Cotton’ Soils..This type is known to the Dutch farmer under the name of ‘*Black Turf’ from its peaty aspect. Ibid. 443 (heading) Black turf soils. 1955J. H. Wellington S. Africa I. ii. xi. 329 The norite soils are heavy black clays with a much lower magnesium content (12 mg.). These ‘black turf’ soils occur along the outcrop of the Great Dyke.
1929K. S. Prichard Coonardoo vii. 79 ‘No ‘*black velvet’ for you, I suppose?’ ‘I'm goin' to marry white and stick white,’ Hugh said. 1930H. Craddock Savoy Cocktail Bk. i. 29 Black velvet. Use long tumbler. ½ Guinness Stout. ½ Champagne. 1942E. Waugh Put out more Flags 45 Young men..gulping Black Velvet. 1948D. Ballantyne Cunninghams 263 I'd like a nice piece of black velvet. One of those quarter-castes, boy.
1861Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. IV. 454 It is sometimes affected by the *black wart.
1822D. Stewart Sk. Highlanders iii. §1 The 42nd Highland Regiment..was originally known by the name of *Black Watch. It arose from the colour of their dress. 1830Scott Tales Grandf. lxxiv, Another measure..was the establishment of independent companies to secure the peace of the Highlands..Black soldiers as they were called, to distinguish them from the regular troops, who wore the red national uniform. 1871Princess Alice Mem. 12 Sept. (1884) 273 We did not see the 42nd Highlanders, the ‘Black Watch,’ to-day.
1915Jrnl. Parasitology I. 107 The not-infrequent occurrence of the notorious ‘*black widow’ spider, Latrodectes mactans, in the vicinity of Stanford University. 1927Daily Express 21 July 2/7 A small black spider known to entomologists as ‘latrodectus mactans’, and commonly called the ‘black widow’ or ‘shoe-button’, which has been introduced from Oriental ports into North America.
1803A. Ellicott Jrnl. x. 284 *Black-willow..becomes more scarce as you descend the river. 1841W. A. Leighton Flora of Shropshire 485 Salix Pentandra, Linn. Sweet Bay-leaved Willow... Much sought after by the Irish harvestmen, who call it ‘the black willow’, and cut it for their shillelahs. 1884C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 170 Salix flavescens..Black Willow.
1569–1595*Blak wark (work), see D.O.S.T. 1859 Sala Gaslight & Daylight xxvi, A florid man who..sometimes takes a spell in the black work, or undertaking line of business. a1877Knight Dict. Mech., Black-work, the work of the blacksmith in contradistinction to bright-work or the work of the silversmith. 1888Lockwood's Dict. Terms Mech. Engin., Black work, work which has not been machined or polished. In some instances the term would apply to metal work which had been machined on a bearing section, but not elsewhere. And in other cases where no portion, working or otherwise, had been machined. 1910Encycl. Brit. IX. 311/2 A kind of embroidery known as ‘black work’, done in black silk on linen, was popular during the same reign [i.e. of Elizabeth I].
1597Gerard Herbal ii. cclxxiv, It is called..in English, Comfrey..of some Knitbacke, and *Black-woort. 1611in Cotgr.
b. Esp. in Ceramics.
1766Wedgwood in L. Jewitt Wedgwoods (1865) 187 Basaltes or black ware; a black porcelain biscuit. 1787Ibid. 332 The black basaltes having the appearance of antique bronze..is excellently adapted for busts, sphynxes, small statues, etc. 1832[see basalt 2]. 1865[see blue printing vbl. n.]. 1875E. Meteyard Wedgwood Handbk. 391 Black Marble. A crystalline terra-cotta body. The colour is black shaded. Black painted. Single stems and flowers painted on black glazed ware... Black printed. Cream-ware printed over or under the glaze with patterns in black. a1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Black-basalt Ware. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 615/1 Etruscan Black Ware. Ibid. 618/2 Black Pottery is usually made from a very silicious or sandy clay. Ibid. 619/1 Roman black ware decorated with groups of dots in relief. 1934V. G. Childe New Light on most Anc. East iii. 79 The rare Black Incised ware, a fabric principally found in Nubia. 1936Discovery Sept. 289/1 This ‘black burnished’ pottery is identical with the black ware found in Mohenjodaro and not dissimilar to the black ware..of the earlier Chalcolithic periods of Baluchistan and Persia.
Add:[19.] [a.] black Irish (see Irish n. 1 a); black lung (disease) chiefly U.S. = anthracosis n.
1838*Black lung [see anthracosis n.]. 1892J. T. Arlidge Hygiene Dis. & Mortality of Occupations v. 266 Dr. Totherick also describes..an example of black lung which crumbled down between the fingers into a pultaceous mass. 1969Newsweek 16 June 44/2 The dread black-lung disease..annually disables thousands of miners. 1987‘H. Wakefield’ Price You Pay vii. 128 He was telling her about his boyhood in South Yorkshire..especially about his mother... She'd been widowed when David was seven (his father had had black lung).
black smoker Oceanogr., a sea-bed vent (see *smoker n. 2 f) which ejects water rich in black particles, usu. sulphide minerals; cf. white smoker s.v. *white a. 11 e.
1980Earth & Planetary Sci. Lett. XLVIII. 2/2 The most vigorous hydrothermal activity occurs at the ‘*black smokers’... Waters blackened by sulfide precipitates jet out at 1–5 m/s at temperatures of at least 350°C. 1987Jackson & Moore Life in Universe ii. 66 Recent explorations of the sea bed have revealed the presence of unusual local conditions where hot vents (named black smokers) occur.
black tar slang, an exceptionally pure form of heroin originating in Mexico.
1986N.Y. Times 22 Jan. a15/6 Illegal aliens are used extensively by smugglers of a Mexican heroin known as ‘*black tar’. 1986Economist 7 June 37/3 Black tar, also known as bugger, candy, dogfood, gumball, Mexican mud, peanut butter and tootsie roll..started in Los Angeles and has since spread to 27 states... What makes black tar heroin unique is that it has a single, foreign source—Mexico—and finds its way into Mexican-American distribution networks, often via illegal immigrants.
Add:[19.] black caucus U.S., a political caucus composed of black people interested in advancing the concerns of blacks, spec. (with capital initial) that composed of black members of Congress.
1967N.Y. Times 7 Sept. 42/4 When I tried to get into the *black caucus, they said, ‘No peckerwoods allowed in here, Sonny.’ 1971Washington Post 20 May a13/1 The President's response to the congressional Black Caucus should stand as a comprehensive statement of ‘where we are at this moment.’ 1989B. Spock & M. Morgan Spock on Spock xiv. 173 The black caucus..absented themselves from the conference and effectively stalled it for two days while they formulated their ‘nonnegotiable demands’. 1994Denver Post 16 Jan. A11/5 The Congressional Black Congress..urged the United States to consider using force to dislodge the military leaders who overthrew Aristide.
black consciousness (freq. with capital initials), awareness of one's identity as a black person; spec. used attrib. and absol. to designate various political movements, esp. in the United States, seeking to unite black people in affirming their common identity.
1953F. Henriques Family & Colour in Jamaica iii. 62 The current expositors of *black consciousness in Jamaica are a group of people who call themselves Ras Tafarites. 1966L. Jones Home 241 Malcolm X's great contribution..was to preach Black Consciousness to the Black Man... Malcolm talked about a black consciousness that took its form from religion. 1991Guardian 13 May 1/6 Supporters of the black consciousness movement, Azapo.
▸ Designating a ski run or trail suitable only for advanced users, marked with a black symbol (cf. black diamond n. at Additions) and represented on a map in black.
[1969Ski Area Managem. Fall 6 A black diamond indicates a ‘most difficult’ trail.] 1974H. Evans et al. We learned to Ski 44 This class may ski quite fast and tackle difficult (black) runs. 1986Skiing Today Winter 57/2 Many resorts have to invent black runs to appeal to good skiers. 2001C. Gill & D. Watts Where to ski & Snowboard 108 There are plenty of red trails that would be black in many other resorts.
▸ black cabbage n.after Italian cavolo nero cavolo nero n. any of various dark-leaved varieties of cabbage or kale; spec. = cavolo nero n.
1968Newark (Ohio) Advocate & Amer. Tribune 26 June 4/4 What is ‘red cabbage’ to us is ‘blue cabbage’ to the Germans, and ‘*black cabbage’ to the Italians. 1981N.Y. Times 30 Sept. c6/2 He cooks with black cabbage, one of his risottos is made with clams and he makes a taglierini dish with walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese. 2004P. Mitchell Beautiful Bowl of Soup 94 She recommends using more than one type of cabbage, including the traditional black cabbage, if available.
▸ black diamond n. N. Amer. (a symbol denoting) a ski run suitable only for advanced users.
1969Ski Area Managem. Fall 6 A *black diamond indicates a ‘most difficult’ trail. 1994Denver Post 20 Nov. a18 (advt.) Whether you're hammering the black diamonds or gliding the tracks, when you go for the snow, we've got what you need. 1998Fast Company Aug. 173/1 Jacob snowboards the black diamond slopes at Lake Tahoe.
▸ black gram n. a drought-resistant legume producing black seeds, Vigna (or Phaseolus) mungo (family Fabaceae), which is closely related to the mung and is widely grown in India and elsewhere in tropical Asia as a pulse.
1766R. Stevens Compl. Guide East-India Trade 68 Surat Goods... Cotton Yarn, white. *Black Gram. Indigo. [Etc.] 1863Chambers's Encycl. V. 789/2 In some parts of India, one of the most esteemed kinds of pulse is the Moog, Moong, or Mungo..; in others, the Kala Moog, or Black Gram. 1998M. J. Leaf Pragmatism & Devel. iv. 59 Profitability was not a concern, they said, because almost anything would be better than paddy. For example, black gram at 2.2 Q./ha gives a return of Rs.1,400 against a cost of about Rs.561.
▸ black hat n. colloq. (orig. U.S.) (a) a villain or criminal, esp. one in a film or other work of fiction; a ‘bad guy’; (b) Computing slang a person who engages in illegal or malicious hacking, creates or distributes computer viruses, etc.
Freq. opposed to white hat.
1961Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune 2 Nov. 18/2 On ‘Laramie’ this week it came as a real shock when he turned out to be a *black hat and got the villain's usual come-uppance. 1993Re: Virus Educ. in comp.virus (Usenet newsgroup) 12 Feb. It seems the Black Hats have a more advanced knowledge of how to perpetrate computer crimes than we White Hats have to properly protect electronic assets. 1996High Country News 5 Aug. 2/2 It's the habit of perceiving people as black hats or white hats that eventually seems old hat. 2006Austral. (Nexis) 26 Sept. 37 Those who try to break into computer networks..or commit other nefarious online deeds are more appropriately referred to as black-hats instead of hackers.
▸ black kale n.after Italian cavolo nero cavolo nero n. = cavolo nero n.
1990N.Y. Times 30 May c1/3 Instead of grass, big florid clumps of Chinese giant red mustard grow next to the driveway, along with Italian *black kale and mitsuba, a pungent Oriental green. 2003Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 22 June 27 Bring a large pot of water to boil, drop in black kale and cook for five to six minutes.
▸ black-on-black adj. designating violence or crime in which both perpetrator and victim are black; (more generally) that occurs between black people.
1968Chicago Daily Defender 16 Mar. 11/7 The violence of black man stabbing black man, mugging black man stomping black man, raping black woman. *Black on black. And a black crime against a black gets cancelled out in the mind of a white precinct commander. 1974Black World May 20/1 In turn, Black-on-Black violence has increased along with the incidence of Black violence against whites. 1998Gay Times Aug. 84/3 (advt.) Second Time Around... The sequel to the black-on-black gay love story The B-Boy Blues. 2005Northern Territory News (Darwin) (Nexis) 22 Nov. (Entertainm. section) 25 The story takes place against a backdrop of black-on-black violence.
▸ Black Russian n. a cocktail made with vodka and coffee liqueur, often mixed with cola; cf. White Russian n. and adj. Additions.
1960Manitowoc (Wisconsin) Herald-Times 4 June 10/6 Bartenders are serving a drink called the ‘*Black Russian’. 2005Cosmopolitan Aug. 77/2 It's 1am now and the women bar-hop down the strip, drinking cheap Black Russians..as they go.
▪ II. black, n.
[The adj. used absol. or elliptically.]
1. a. Black colour or hue. It may have a plural, as in ‘different blacks,’ i.e. kinds or shades of black.
a1225Ancr. R. 282 Biholden euer his blake & nout his hwite. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 229 b, Knowe what whyte is, and it is soone perceyued what blacke is. 1645Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 56 All his blacks are white. 1821Craig Lect. Drawing iii. 175 We must take black and white into our list, as colours with the painter though not with the optician. 1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. iii. §14. 45.
b. black is beautiful: a slogan asserting pride in Blackness and Black self-awareness. Freq. attrib.
1965Liberation (N.Y.) Sept. 25/1 Radical blacks turn inward to united fronts and to ‘black is beautiful’ stated as an ideological principle. 1967Black Panther 20 July 24/3 The hangup is that they have tried to sweep ‘Black’ under the rug for all these years and can't stand us digging ‘Black is Beautiful’. 1971Black Scholar Apr.–May 15/2 These prisons boast Soul Shows, Black is Beautiful days, and bongo sessions in the yard. 1973A. Dundes Mother Wit 231 In ‘The Language of Soul’ we find an important reversal in attitude, a reversal which is..in harmony with the general ‘Black is Beautiful’ philosophy. 1983Washington Post 22 Sept. dc1/1, I remember how black was beautiful 10 years ago and have since been struck with how abruptly the Afro was cut short.
2. A black paint, dye, or pigment. In senses a, b, see also bleck, blatch, bletch.
†a. Black writing fluid, ink. Obs. black and white: see black a. 15, a, b, c.
a1000Canons K. Edgar in Anc. Laws II. 244 And we lærað þæt hi..habban blǽc & bóc-fel to heóra gerædnessum. c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 164 Incaustum vel atramentum, blæc.
b. A preparation used by shoemakers, curriers, etc. for staining leather black.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 277 Shoomakers black with vineger.
c. A black pigment, dye, or varnish; many different preparations are used by artists, as ivory black, lamp black, Spanish black, etc.; in the industrial arts several black varnishes and pigments are similarly distinguished, as Berlin black, Brunswick black.
1573Huloet, Blacke, called paynters blacke, atramentum tectorium. 1581Act 23 Eliz. ix. §3 Clothes..dyed with a galled and mathered Black. 1670W. Simpson Hydrol. Ess. 75 Dyers in the making of their Blacks, use not Alom but Vitriol. 1815Specif. J. Taylor's Patent No. 3929. 2 Bones converted either into ivory or bone black. 1846G. Wright Scientif. Knowl. 46 Ivory black is..ivory or bones thoroughly burnt, and afterwards ground. c1860Winsor & Newton Handbk. Water-Col. 31 Lamp Black is not quite so intense, nor so transparent, as that made from ivory.
d. to be in the black: to show a profit; to have a credit balance. (From the practice of recording credit items and balances in black.) Cf. in the red (red n.1). orig. U.S.
1928N.Y. Times 11 Mar. viii. 6/2 In the black, showing a profit. 1940Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIV. 734 With but few exceptions American air carriers are..operating ‘in the black’. 1955Times 30 Aug. 9/5 On an overdraft, understandably, the banks charge their customers a percentage; but when we are ‘in the black’ nothing is ever added. 1958Times 24 July 5/1 All the independent television companies are well in the black. A.T.V. made a profit of over {pstlg}3,500,000 for the past year.
3. A particle of some black substance, a black speck;
a. spec. the dark-coloured fungus which attacks wheat, smut.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11869 Yche blak, y dar wel telle Þat hyt was a fende of helle. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 259 They have also little blacks in the middle of their teeth. 1615Markham Eng. Housew. (1660) 110 You shall take the blacks of green Corn either Wheat or Rye. 1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. i. s.v. bean, The black of a bean, Hilum. 1883Gd. Words 735 Who has not observed the smut, or blacks, among corn?
b. A small particle or flake of soot, a smut. Usually in pl.
c1816Yng. Woman's Comp. 196 Let the blamange settle before you turn it into the forms, or the blacks will remain at the bottom. 1843F. Paget Pageant 84 She carefully covered over..any articles that were likely to be damaged by blacks. 1862Goulburn Pers. Relig. iii. viii. (1873) 223 The blacks of the world have settled down upon it. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. II. 149 If you see a black on my nose, tell me so.
c. A deposit of dirt on the body, esp. under the finger-nails. dial.
1753Washington Diaries (1925) I. 49 You say this land belongs to you, but there is not the Black of my Nail yours. 1870J. P. Robson Evangeline Introd. (E.D.D.), Aw ha'e wesht baith maw feet frae the black. 1889Brighouse News 14 Sept. (E.D.D.), He weant pairt wi' t'black afore his finger-nails.
4. The dark spot in the centre of the eye, the pupil. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. II. 189 Þese hauen in eueriche yȝe tweie blakkes. 1398― Barth. De P.R. v. vii. (1495) 113 The blacke of the eye syttyth in the mydle as a quene. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., In the region of the blacke of the eye. a1648Digby (J.) As big as the black or sight of the eye.
5. Black fabric or material.
a. Black clothing, especially that worn as a sign of mourning, in which sense the plural was formerly used, as still in Lowland Sc. (Blacks, in modern use, sometimes = black or dress trousers.)
c1400Rom. Rose 4759 And eke as wel be amorettes In mourning blacke, as bright burnettes. c1500Merch. & Son in Halliw. Nugæ P. 28 Fadur, why appere ye thus in black, ar not yowre synnys foryevyn? 1580North Plutarch (1656) 20 Ten moneths..was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers. 1636Featly Clavis Myst. xix. 247 Neither are all that weare blackes his mourners. 1641R. Brooke Eng. Episc. i. iv. 17 Some to Ministers, as Cassockes, Gownes..Canonicall Coats, Blackes. 1699Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 557 The King..has ordered all his subjects to goe into black. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) VI. 52 Whom dealest thou with for thy blacks? 1862Thackeray Philip I. 174 My old blacks show the white seams so, that you must..rig me out with a new pair.
b. pl. Hangings of black cloth used in churches, etc., at funerals; funereal drapery.
1608Middleton Mad World ii. ii, I'll pay him again when he dies in so many blacks; I'll have the church hung round with a noble a yard. 1611Cotgr., Littre..the blacke wherewith the vpper part of a Church is compassed, at the funerall of a great person. 1711J. Distaff Char. Sacheverellio 16 The Company of Upholders are not able to furnish Blacks enough for the Deceased.
c. Often in comb., as black-robed.
1602Warner Alb. Eng. x. lvi. 250 The black-clad Scaffold. 1863M. L. Whately Ragged Life Egypt iv. 23 Her black-robed female relatives support her on each side. 1870Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 375 Her friends black-clad and moving mournfully.
6. = Black man or woman.
a. A person of ‘black’ skin; an African Negro, or Australasian Negrito, or other member of a dark-skinned race. In this sense it appears to be a translation of Negro, which was in earlier use.
1625Purchas Pilgrims ix. xiii. §1. 1570 The mouth of the Riuer [Gambra], where dwell the Blackes, called Mandingos. 1679–88Secr. Serv. Moneys Chas. & Jas. (1851) 58 To Randall Mc Donnell, for a black his sl Mati⊇ bought of him, 50l. 1682Bunyan Holy War 20 This giant was one of the Blacks or Negroes. 1789George Pr. Wales in Cornwallis' Corr. II. 29 (Y.) The Adaulet of Benares..now held by a Black named Alii Caun. 1805Ann. Rev. III. 289 They exclude from suffrage the blacks and the paupers. 1856Olmsted Slave States 129 The free black does not, in general, feel himself superior to the slave.
†b. One of a band of poachers who went about their work with blackened faces. Obs. attrib. in black-act, a severe law (9 Geo. I. xxii) against poaching, trespassing, etc.
1722Act 9 Geo. I, xxii, Whereas several ill-designing and disorderly Persons have of late associated themselves under the name of Blacks. 1785G. White Selborne vii, The Waltham blacks..committed such enormities, that Government was forced to interfere with that severe and sanguinary Act called the Black Act. 1809Tomlins Law Dict. s.v., A virtual repeal of the punishment inflicted by the Black Act.
†c. A black-haired person. Obs.
c1686Yng. Mans C. in Roxb. Ball. II. 558 The pleasant Blacks and modest Browns, their loving Husbands please.
†d. A mute or hired mourner at a funeral. Obs.
1619Fletcher M. Thomas iii. i, I do pray ye To give me leave to live a little longer: Ye stand before me like my Blacks.
7. In various elliptical applications:
a. Typogr. (see quot.)
b. Chess and Draughts. The player using the black or coloured pieces.
c. Archery. A shot which hits the target in the black ring surrounding the inner white circle.
d. A pigeon of a black variety.
e. A black postage stamp.
f. The black colour in roulette or rouge-et-noir. Cf. red n.1 1 b.
a.1882Print. Times 15 Feb. 36/1 Blacks is a term applied to any mark on a sheet made by pieces of furniture, catches, etc. rising to the level of the form.
b.1837Penny Cycl. VII. 52/1 Black's fourth move was a very bad one.
c.1882Standard 31 Aug. 6/4 The Vice-President's Prize to ladies for most blacks.
d.1855Poultry Chron. II. 515/2 A pen of short-faced bald head Tumblers, Blues, Blacks,..Almond, of rare quality.
e.1890S. C. Skipton Auction Epitome 1889 28, 1d. black sheet of 240, used. 1907Daily Chron. 12 Dec. 6/6 A 12d. black of Canada, 1851. 1936R. Graves Antigua, Penny, Puce x. 149, I specialize in the archetype and grandmother of all stamps—the Penny Black of 1840. 1970Times (Sat. Rev.) 31 Jan. p. v/2 (Advt.), Over 250 lots of One Penny Blacks, incl. all Plates, many with matched 1d. Reds.
f.1868[see red n.1 1 b]. 1928[see noir 2 b]. 1950[see inverse n. 3]. 1975Way to Play 279/1 If the opposite characteristic (eg black) comes up, the bet is lost.
8. In Italian history.
a. A member or supporter of the political faction of the Neri, the opponents of the Bianchi (Whites), in a feud which began in Pistoia in 1300 and later spread to Florence.
b. In Rome, a supporter of the Vatican as opponents of the Italian monarchy; one of the clericals.
1680, etc. [see white n. 19]. 1802C. Wilmot Let. 17 Dec. in Irish Peer (1920) 134 The blacks and the whites form'd opposite parties which totally disorganized the Republick. 1877Encycl. Brit. VI. 811/2 A quarrel had arisen in Pistoia between the two branches of the Cancellieri,—the Bianchi and Neri, the Whites and the Blacks. The quarrel spread to Florence, the Donati took the side of the Blacks, and Cerchi of the Whites. 1902Academy 11 Oct. 390/1 Were you a White and for the people, or a Black and for the nobles? 1903[see white a. 6 b]. 1909Daily Chron. 29 Jan. 4/6 Most of the skaters are of the Vatican party... ‘Black’ is the local name.
9. A black horse.
1846J. J. Hooper Taking Census in Adv. Simon Suggs i. 153 Mounting our old black, we determined to give the old soul a parting fire. a1861T. Winthrop John Brent (1883) iii. 26 The black was within the corral, pawing the ground, neighing, and whinnying. 1874Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 211 They are able to ride in grand carriages with their three minute blacks hitched thereto.
10. Short for black-leg 3. (Cf. black a. 11 b.)
1866Sat. Rev. 20 July 59 The lists of ‘blacks’, and the victims of the picket system.
11. Short for blackmail 2. to put the black (on a person), to blackmail. slang.
1923E. Wallace Missing Million xii. 95 I've been paying ‘black’ for years. Ibid. xiv. 115, I don't know the ‘black’ people; they're not the kind of folk I like to meet. ‘Black's’ dirty and always will be. 1924― Room 13 iii. 38 Are you trying to put the black on me? 1928― Gunner xxiii. 190 I've never known you put the black before. 1951J. B. Priestley Fest. Farbridge iii. iii. 561 Got a lovely pub..and yet wants to start putting the black on people!
12. A serious mistake or blunder, esp. to put up a black: to make a blunder. colloq. or slang (orig. Services'). (Cf. black mark.)
1939Flight 26 Oct. 335/2 Last week's special black. The ex-civil pilot..who thought that the ripcord of his parachute was a carrying handle specially provided by the kind manufacturers. 1941English Digest Feb. 38/1 A glaring error is a ‘black’. ‘I have put up a black,’ they will say. 1943Word Study Apr. 6/1 Far from committing the black they expected, she showed great heroism. 1946G. Gibson Enemy Coast Ahead xi. 142 One day she put up a black... She had fried our salmon in batter. 1948‘N. Shute’ No Highway v. 142 Probably I should have to..leave Government service altogether, having put up such a black as that.
▸ black–white adj. of, relating to, or designating interactions or relationships between black people and white people.
1935Jrnl. Negro Educ. 4 309 Many are the non-scientific solutions for the problem of *black–white race relations. 1969Amer. Sociol. Rev. 34 891/2 The problematic power disparities which are general concomitants of such black-white interaction. 2001H. Gilbert Postcolonial Plays 14/1 Such a romanticised vision is seen to simplify post-contact history into a reductive black-white dichotomy, an inadequate formulation for understanding the complexities of contemporary South Africa.
▪ III. black, v.|blæk|
Forms: 3–4 blak-en, blakk-in, black-en, 3–6 blake, 5 blak-, black-yn, 5–7 blacke, 7– black.
[f. black a.]
†1. intr. To be or become black. Obs.
a1225Juliana 48 Þat him eoc euch neil & blakede of þe blode. c1340Cursor M. (Trin.) 14747 To blake [Cott. blaken] þo bigan her brewes. c1380Sir Ferumb. 2388 Wanne þe nyȝt gynt blake. a1400Syr Percyv. 688 Now sone..salle wee see Whose browes schalle blakke! c1460Towneley Myst. 107 So my browes blaky To the doore wylle I wyn.
2. a. trans. To make black; now esp. to put black colour on. Also with up; spec. intr., to colour one's face black in order to play the role of a Negro (orig. U.S.). Cf. blacken.
c1315Shoreham 155 The wyte the vayrer hyt maketh, And selve more hyt blaketh. c1386Chaucer Monk's T. 141 Til that his fleisch was for the venym blaked. a1400Syr Percyv. 1056 Thare he and the sowdane salle mete, His browes to blake. 1532–3Act 24 Hen. VIII, i. §6 Every coriar shall well and sufficiently corie and blacke the said Lether tanned. 1650R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Warres ix. 26 Having blackt his face, and died his hair. 1748Franklin Wks. (1840) 207 The paper will be blacked by the smoke. 1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 49 Crown-glass, blacked on one side. 1842Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 75, I lay..Black'd with thy branding thunder. 1877W. R. Alger Life of E. Forrest I. 109 He blacked himself up and rigged his costume quite to his content. 1890‘Biff’ Hall Turnover Club 197 They barely had time to get back to the theater to black up for the evening performance. 1934Wodehouse Thank You, Jeeves xv. 212 Old Glossop isn't blacking up?
b. spec. To clean and polish shoes and other black leather articles with blacking.
1557North Guevara's Diall Pr. (1582) 369 a In varnishing hys sword and dagger, blacking his bootes. 1684Foxe's A. & M. III. 907 Causing his shoos to be blacked. 1812J. & H. Smith Rej. Addr. ii. (1873) 12 My uncle's porter, Samuel Hughes, Came in at six to black the shoes.
†c. To drape with black. Obs.
1664Lamont Diary 25 Nov., The isle being blacked—with a number of dependants on the pall of black velvet.
d. to black (a person's) eye: to bruise or discolour the eye by a blow (cf. black eye 2).
1902E. Nesbit Five Children & It viii. 203 The baker's boy blacked his other eye. 1950G. Greene Third Man ii. 26 I'd rather make you look the fool you are than black your bloody eye.
e. To blackmail (cf. black n. 11). slang.
1928E. Wallace Gunner xxx. 244 If I ‘blacked’ you after this I should be cutting my own throat. 1964G. Sims Dreadful Door xxiii. 124 He..took naughty photos of them and then blacked them.
3. trans.
a. To draw or figure in black.
1840Browning Sordello iv. 374 The grim, twynecked eagle, coarsely blacked With ochre on the naked wall.
b. to black out: to obliterate with black.
1850Browning Christmas Eve Wks. 1868 V. 175 If he blacked out in a blot Thy brief life's pleasantness. 185.Gen. Gordon Lett. 121 The Russian censor who blacks out all matter that is displeasing to the Government. 1905Westm. Gaz. 2 Mar. 10/2 A memorial..urging that betting news should be ‘blacked out’ from the newspapers in the libraries... Ultimately the Committee decided to ‘black-out’ horse-racing news.
c. to black out (trans. and intr.), to extinguish or obscure (lights), esp. during a stage performance, or as a precaution against air-raids; also intr. of lights, etc.: to be so extinguished or obscured. Also in extended uses.
1921Galsworthy Six Short Plays 127 Mr. Foreson!.. Black out! The lights go out. 1928Amer. Speech IV. 70 To black out is to cut off all light, footlights, borders, and spot. 1934Baltimore Sun 15 Aug. 4/6 There will be a burst of music, and the lights will ‘black out’. This will form the prelude to the pageant. 1935N. Marsh Enter A Murderer v. 62 We black out for a little before the curtain goes up. Ibid. xxii. 264, I am not going to black-out the lights. 1939Daily Mail 12 Sept. 5/3 It took about three visits from courteous wardens before my house was properly blacked out. 1939E. August Black-out Book 18/2 (heading) You can't black-out the Stars. 1940Ann. Reg. 1939 377 In many countries the lamps of science were dimmed, and in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Finland they were blacked out. 1944in Zandvoort Wartime Eng. (1957) 36 Look how the windows are hastily blacking out. 1965in M. McLuhan Medium is Massage (1967) 149 The largest power failure in history blacked out nearly all of New York City.
4. fig.
a. To stain, sully; to defame, represent as ‘black.’ (Usually blacken.)
c1440Promp. Parv. 38 Blackyn' or make blake, vitupero, increpo. 1625Fletcher Nt. Walker ii. 216 Thy other sins which black thy soul. 1683D. A. Art Converse 16 To black his repute. a1845Hood Trumpet xxx, Not that elegant ladies..ever detract, Or lend a brush when a friend is black'd.
b. To declare to be ‘black’ (see black a. 11 b). Hence blacked ppl. adj.
1958Times 20 Jan. 5/4 The firm's 1,500 employees are ‘blacking’ work in the fettling shop. 1960Guardian 21 Dec. 2/4 Four men who refused to repair ‘blacked’ machinery. 1961Daily Tel. 11 Dec. 11/6 (heading) Equity ‘blacks’ TV programme.
†5. intr. To poach as one of the ‘Blacks’: see black n. 6 b. Obs. rare.
1789G. White Selborne vi, As soon as they began blacking, they [the deer] were reduced to about fifty head.
6. to black out, to suffer a ‘black-out’ (see black-out 4); esp. in flying, to be temporarily blinded through the effect of a sudden sharp turn or acceleration; to lose consciousness. Cf. blacking vbl. n. 1 c.
1940Illustr. London News CXCVI. 449/1 The blood in his head seeks to fly outwards, and, as his body and feet are away from the centre of the turn, runs towards his legs and drains from behind his eyes, so that he becomes temporarily blind, or ‘blacks out’. 1940Times 30 Mar. 9/6 The pilot's body weight would soar, to six, eight, or more times normal. At 8g he would black-out, and at 10g faint. 1940Flight 7 Nov. 387/1 So I went into a steep left-hand turn and blacked out. 1957‘C. E. Maine’ High Vacuum x. 84 ‘How did you react to the take-off?’ ‘I blacked out. Don't remember much about it.’ 1958P. Mortimer Daddy's gone A-Hunting vii. 36 The child, dizzy with speed, was blacking out.
†7. Comb. black-shoe (boy) = shoe-black.
1732Fielding Covent Gard. Jrnl. No. 61 A rebuke given by a blackshoe boy to another. 1746W. Horsley The Fool (1748) I. 5 [He] reduces himself to the Level of Highwaymen, Footmen, and Black-shoe Boys. |