1mass noun The property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light.

1. 1.1count noun One, or any mixture, of the constituents into which light can be separated in a spectrum or rainbow, sometimes including (loosely) black and white.
   a rich brown colour

   a range of bright colours

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The first step along this path was taken in 1664 when Isaac Newton used a prism to split sunlight into its constituent colors, the familiar rainbow.
   • The eatery's basic colours are black and white, creating a tranquil atmosphere that is most suitable for business lunches.
   • It was beautiful with all its many different colors and shades.
   • The dress code forbids white clothing and bright colors.
   • He has used the spectrum of colours in the rainbow effectively to create an atmosphere of calm.
   • The main colours are black and white broken by touches of yellow, grey and sky blue.
   • In rural areas, many women and men wear long loose robes in either white or bright colors.
   • In her world, the colors were black, white, purple, red, or gray.
   • Fluorescent lights and bright colors overstimulate their brains.
   • They range in colours from black to lightest blonde with varying shades of ash, gold, beige, red-violet copper and auburn.
   • But there is less detail and the colors are lighter and brighter.
   • Bright colors created a rainbow of dresses and veils!
   • It was Newton who first realized that white light is made up of the colors of the rainbow, made visible through the prism.
   • We next visited the island of Burano, where picture postcard houses line the canals in contrasting shades of pastel colours.
   • Celebrating his own birthday and braver than most, Jason offered to dye his hair any color for charity.
   • I would advise against wearing bright colours or black.
   • Tracy then began to shun bright colours, wearing only black, sometimes lined with deep purple or very occasionally red.
   • Verbena comes in a rainbow of bright colors.
   • But one must make sure that the fabric is in neutral colours like black, white or beige, so that it matches with most of your dresses.
   • Dark or muted colors will make you look smaller, light or bright colors will make you look bigger.
   • Even the men's area was filled with bright colors, devoid of blacks and brown and filled with reds, yellows, and greens.
2. 1.2 The use of all colours, not only black and white, in photography or television.
   he has shot the whole film in colour

   as modifier colour television

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Shocking half-page pictures in colour and black and white underline the story throughout.
   • Both can print at a speed of 16 pages per minute in color or in black and white.
   • Occasionally, the images may be in black and white rather than in colour.
   • Resolution in color television imagery is also based on principles of optical mixing.
   • The book, which features hundreds of colour photos, and plenty of history, runs to 160 pages.
   • There were three entries per category in colour prints, colour slides and black and white prints.
   • In case any artifact is found, it should be photographed in colour as well as in black and white.
   • Entries can be in colour or black and white and must be prints not slides.
   • However it was a show which also broke the rule that all programmes would be as comprehensible in black and white as in colour.
   • He compared the two scenarios to the difference between black and white and color television.
   • The photographs are mostly black and white, but a few are in colour.
   • The images from around the region would be in colour, rather than black and white.
   • Pictures can be black and white or in colour and should be mounted prints from adults and mounted or unmounted prints from children.
   • There are photos, in black and white and in color, of the event.
   • The photographs of the various venues look so much better in colour, rather than the black and white renditions in the weekly newspaper.
   • Watching the video clips I said to myself, surely these used to be in colour, not black and white?
   • Do I shoot this in colour or black and white?
   • These were the first finals shown on television in colour.
   • Although he took the photo in color, he converted it to black and white to increase the contrast and more closely resemble Weston's work.
   • A number of photographs, in colour and black and white, show the various facets of the process in great detail.
   • State-of-the-art cameras are now smaller than a pack of cigarettes, and can transmit in color or black and white.
3. 1.3 Rosiness or redness of the face as an indication of health or of embarrassment, anger, etc.
   there was some colour back in his face

   colour flooded her skin as she realized what he meant

   Example sentencesExamples

   • There was a knock at her door and she sat up quickly, her cheeks flooding with color.
   • She felt colour flood into her cheeks and she bowed her head.
   • Laurel smiled deeply and a healthy, warm color flooded her face.
   • Her heart pounded and color flooded her face at his appearance, replaced suddenly by a desire to cry on his shoulder.
   • There's nothing like righteous anger to put color in your cheeks.
   • She looked up sharply, color flooding her face, turning it a lovely bright crimson, her blue eyes filled with worry as she waited for what was to come next.
   • She nearly stumbled twice and felt her cheeks flood with color as the other passengers stared at her.
   • He gave her arm a nudge, causing another flood of color to her cheeks.
   • For some inexplicable reason, her cheeks flooded with colour.
   • She held his gaze, despite the colour that was flooding her cheeks.
   • Ellen's face flooded with color but her eyes remained calm and clear.
   • She closed her eyes and felt the colour flood into her face.
   • Karae's cheeks flooded with color and she quickly turned her eyes to the floor to hide both the blush and her shy smile.
   • I watched Daisy's cheeks flood with color, and she came slowly to my side.
   • Suddenly, his face floods with color and he looks down.
   • Mrs Grimshaw's face began to flood with intense colour.
   • For a moment, there was an awkward silence, and color flooded Perrine's face.
   • Quinn wheezed with embarrassment as color rushed to her face.
   • Brooklynn's face flushed with color, mostly from shock, anger and jealousy.
   • She looked down, colour once again flooding her face.

   Synonyms

   redness, pinkness, rosiness, reddening, ruddiness, blush, flush, high colour, glow, bloom
4. 1.4 A substance used to give something a particular colour.
   lip colour

   as with any chemical treatment, colour can cause hair to become dry

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I held most of the world's females in disregard, for even a hint of mascara or lip colour was enough to have me disrespectful of them.
   • I coated my lashes with three layers of black, glossy mascara and then finished my face with a dark mocha color on my lips.
   • She ran a brush through her hair and added a dash of color to her lips, and then shrugged at herself in the mirror.
   • It will give a good clean outline to the pencil, and help to hold the lip colour in place.
   • Henna, the most widely used hair colour is one of the best conditioners too.
   • The dyes are so sophisticated that they don't damage the hair, so women have the confidence to experiment with hair colour just as they do with make-up and beauty treatments.
   • For lips, always use a pencil, but be sure to match it to your lip colour.
   • Lips, she added, should be glossed or bordered by lip liner that closely matches the chosen lip colour.
   • Fiona worked with Newcastle-based decorator Pete Ryan, who hand-mixed the colours to create the shades for each room.
   • She wore little in the way of make-up, save for a smear of liner and mascara on her eyes and a touch of color on her lips.
   • The only rule to choosing lip color is this: make sure you like it.
   • For lip color in pots, remember to swipe the tops with a tissue occasionally to keep them clean.
   • The color, which stains the skin and nails, lasts for several weeks.
   • Sitting restlessly I allowed my women to apply a layer of kohl about my eyes and a touch of coral color to my lips.
   • The laboratory has about 19 primary colours of dye from which they can produce around 6000 different colours and shades.
   • Megan helped Kate flare her skirt and fix her lip color.

   Synonyms

   paint, pigment, colourant, coloration, dye, stain, tint, wash
5. 1.5Heraldry count noun Any of the major conventional colours used in coats of arms (gules, vert, sable, azure, purpure), especially as opposed to the metals, furs, and stains.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The wreath is six twists, metal alternating with colour.
   • The first and second floor fronts would have panels in terracotta red, and the Coat of Arms would be in heraldic colours.
   • Our basic rule is, that you cannot have colour on colour or metal upon metal, therefore, almost all arms you will come across will be made up of charges that are either metal on colour or colour on metal.
   • Colour may not be placed on colour, nor may metal on metal.
6. 1.6Snooker count noun Any of the balls other than the white cue ball and the reds.
   Hendry potted the last four colours to win 5–4

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The pair then picked off the colours and gained four points from a foul to win the game 50-41.
   • Another tactical battle goes to the final colours and it is Hendry who crosses the winning line by potting the blue.
   • After a 52 break and with two reds left, Hammond pots the white then Carling clears up the colours to win.
   • At 11-9 up, Richardson missed a great chance and Clarke won a colours duel to cut the gap to 11-10.
   • Simons takes a lead in the frame but Callow fights back and the pair tussle over the colours.

2mass noun Pigmentation of the skin, especially as an indication of someone's race.

1. 2.1count noun A group of people considered as being distinguished by skin pigmentation.
   all colours and nationalities

   Example sentencesExamples

   • We have to respect the open and free society that Europe has developed and respect all citizens of all nations, religions and colors.
   • To many, it means students of all colors and backgrounds will populate our nations' universities in harmony.
   • We are men and women, rich and poor, black and white, and all colors of the human rainbow.
   • Two images of women of color appeared much later in the booklet, shown only once, and linked to themes of housework and childcare.

3mass noun Vivid appearance resulting from the juxtaposition of many bright things.

1. 3.1 Features that lend a particularly interesting quality to something.
   a town full of colour and character

   Example sentencesExamples

   • It was a fantastic day, full of life and colour and excitement, and New Zealand had two athletes on the dais.
   • The street market provides colour and interest and adds to the character of the town.
   • Her latest thriller is full of life, colour and character.
   • A cascade of novels and films featuring the colour and spice of the country has made its way onto bookshelves and into movie houses.
   • Westport is the tidiest town in Ireland, a place full of character and colour, where tidiness and beauty are the norm, or so it seems.
   • This is a wonderful book, full of richness and colour - a celebration of many people's achievements.
   • Are our lives so full of colour and drama that we must set out to make them greyer and more boring?
   • He writes as he talks and the book is excellent, full of colour and life.
   • Good conversation features colloquialisms, colour and the natural rhythm of speech.
   • My film would be full of colour and excitement because I think that's what living in Britain is like most of the time.

   Synonyms

   vividness, life, liveliness, vivacity, vitality, animation, excitement, interest, fascination, richness, zest, verve, spice, spiciness, bite, piquancy, sparkle, impact, vigour, vigorousness, force, forcefulness, point

   informal oomph, pizzazz, zing, zip, zap, punch, kick

   literary salt
2. 3.2 Variety of musical tone or expression.
   orchestral colour

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The score also shows off the composer's skill at manipulating orchestral color.
   • The instrumental color, finely crafted elegance, and glowing sweep of the music were exhilarating.
   • Music with depth and variety of color can be interpreted in more than one way and I'd love to hear what the Dallas Orchestra might do with it.
   • Played on a pianola the music sounds distorted and lacks the orchestral colour that the ear expects.
   • All of the orchestral color and variety of the original has been encapsulated in his version.
   • In most scores, percussion provides accent and color, while other instruments carry on the main musical matter.
   • In particular, the use of a wide range of percussion adds an immense amount of varied instrumental color to what is otherwise a very small ensemble.
   • First and foremost, all work should consider the musical elements of tone, color, dynamics and phrasing.
   • I don't know how he managed it, but he suggests much of the original orchestral color with these reduced forces.
   • Fricsay makes the rhythms snap, and once again his control over orchestral color is exemplary.
   • Without a clear melody, color becomes the paramount musical element.
   • Her sensitive and expressive playing lacked colour and projection in the live concert situation.
   • I use harmonics for effect, colour and poignancy as well as their ethereal tone texture.
   • There is a less noticeable jazz presence here, and less color in both the music and in the scoring.
   • Fanfares were one thing, but composers needed instruments that could provide colour as well as tone.
   • The surging waves of orchestral sound, radiant pianissimos and brilliant flashes of color were awesome!
   • Magnard himself was a natural contrapuntist, often seeming wilfully to shun the blandishments of orchestral colour.
   • Henze's settings are rich in orchestral colour and character.
   • Some unusual instruments are also included in the ensemble for comical colour, such as the French accordion.
   • A bit more variety of vocal color would have been welcome, but let's not quibble.

   Synonyms

   tone, sound, sound quality, voice, voice quality, tone colour, tonality, resonance, ring

4coloursAn item or items of a particular colour worn to identify or distinguish an individual or a member of a group, in particular a jockey or a member of a sports team.

1. 4.1 A badge, cap, or other item in the distinctive colours of a particular school, awarded to a pupil selected to represent the school in a sport.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • At the Festival Games he cleared 3.80 metres and was awarded his school colours.
   • H Brown was awarded his school colours for rugby.
   • Irusha obtained his school colours last year, from the Ministry of Education, the youngest ever chess player to obtain this honour, which is the highest chess achievement for a schoolboy.
   • Full School Colours were awarded to S Houghton, B Gelling and D Wise.

   Synonyms

   strip, kit, uniform, costume, livery, insignia, regalia

   badge, ribbon, rosette, emblem
2. 4.2British The flag of a country, or of a regiment or ship.
   all over the world countries which had long been administered by others were hoisting their own colours

   the Cheshire Regiment celebrated its tercentenary with a tattoo and the presentation of the new colours

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Why was a ship flying British colors firing on them?
   • He wondered what they thought of a ship flying British colours, fleeing.
   • By the end of the 19th century, regimental standards and colours were driven from the battlefield by the increasing range and accuracy of small-arms fire.
   • Flags and Slovenian colours are sweeping the town, and shop windows are being painted.
   • From what I've seen, this country identifies more with its flag and its colours than any other.
   • I know because, as secretary of the regimental association, my father was presented to her in Pontefract when she presented new colours to the regiment.

   Synonyms

   flag, standard, banner, pennant, pennon, streamer, ensign, banderole

   British pendant

   Nautical burgee

   in ancient Rome vexillum

   rare gonfalon, guidon, labarum

5A shade of meaning.

6Physics
mass noun A quantized property of quarks which can take three values (designated blue, green, and red) for each flavour.

1with object Change the colour of (something) by painting, dyeing, or shading it.

1. 1.1no object Take on a different colour.
   the foliage will not colour well if the soil is too rich

   Example sentencesExamples

   • As the clear lens slowly colours with age, your vision gradually may acquire a brownish shade.
   • The two pieces of filling were put in at different times, he explains, and have coloured differently.
   • It has a rich and unique fragrance when made and colours with age.
   • While the bird is colouring in the butter you can peel the garlic, trim and cut the celery into short lengths.
2. 1.2 Fill (a shape or outline) with colour.
   he hated finger-painting and colouring in pictures

   Example sentencesExamples

   • There will not only be interesting stories on the agenda but also some time set aside for colouring in.
   • She exchanged the crayon in her hand for a slightly different shade and began coloring again.
   • Half of the 47 lessons observed were deemed unsatisfactory or poor and some teachers were found to have low expectations of pupils, giving them undemanding tasks such as colouring in.
   • The twins sheltered from the storms by learning the art of batik painting, colouring in the exotic fish between their wax outlines.
   • He has printed out his latest graph in black and white and is contentedly preoccupied with colouring in the pieces of pie by hand.
   • She was working on a new quilt pattern, and coloring in the various shapes she had sketched out.
   • Instead they spend forever coloring in maps and flags and learning the official languages and exports of countries around the world.
   • I've worked out how to colour line drawings, hurrah.
   • But we aren't going to spend the whole lesson colouring in.
   • If he coloured the two figures in, he did a good job.
   • The coloring book was well loved and came with plenty of different pictures to color.
   • Instead of wasting time colouring in logos in black you could be doing volunteer work.
   • As Benjamin sat down with a few crayons and several markers, he glanced at Rebecca who was coloring her Ohio picture.
   • She sat in her room and was coloring a rather savage drawing of her stabbing her sister over and over again with a dagger.
   • I suggest that they make their colors bright by first stroking horizontally and then coloring over the same shape again with vertical strokes.
   • The rule for colouring in a map is that any two regions which share a border must be filled in using different colours.
   • Then once you have decided to start revising, don't just sit there until the day of your first exam colouring in revision timetables when you haven't actually done any revising, get on with it.
   • Children can pick up a colouring sheet from the visitors centre and colour it in either at home or at the park with the colours and table provided.
   • We celebrated diversity by colouring in Union Jacks on Commonwealth Day.
   • Down the back of the class, where some of us were colouring in pictures in the National Enquirer, it seemed horribly unfair.
   • Hannah, ten, is colouring in a picture marked with French words with her friend Sarah, also ten, at one of the school's new lunchtime learning sessions.
   • Maybe some children find a use for it, colouring in the pictures.
3. 1.3 Make vivid or picturesque.
   he has coloured the dance with gestures from cabaret and vaudeville

2no object (of a person or their skin) show embarrassment or shame by becoming red; blush.

1. 2.1with object Cause (a person's skin) to change in colour.
   rage coloured his pale complexion

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Despite the warmth threatening to color my cheeks I crossed my arms and stubbornly turned away.
   • Parie gasped, embarrassment and outrage colouring her face.
   • A deep flush spread up Rita's face and colored her pale skin an unflattering red.
   • She slowly dropped her gaze to the book on the table, but he could see a hint of rosy pink colored her pale cheeks.
   • He clutched at the light coverlet, pulling it with him as he sat up, a flush coloring his skin.
   • Caleb shook his head, amusement coloring his cheeks a pale pink.
2. 2.2with object (of an emotion) imbue (a person's voice) with a particular tone.
   surprise coloured her voice

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Judith couldn't help the trace of anger that colored her voice.
   • Tim clapped her on the shoulder, pride coloring his voice.
   • ‘How about I lead you back to your headquarters?’ he suggested blandly, no hint of enthusiasm coloring his voice.
   • Remembered sorrow colored his tone, making it seem harsher than it was meant to be.
   • Katy did not entirely succeed in keeping her disappointment from coloring her voice.
   • Guests gone, she allowed her own anger to color her voice.
   • ‘I second that observation,’ Alexander said, interest coloring his warm voice.
   • ‘Look at the suns, they are wasting in the sky,’ Magdalena said, alarm coloring her voice.
   • Thomas actually spoke with his soft-toned voice colored in worry.

3with object Influence, especially in a negative way; distort.

1. 3.1 Misrepresent by distortion or exaggeration.
   witnesses might colour evidence to make a story saleable

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The debate has often been coloured by misinformation and manipulation, and it is not easy for a political party in Government to deal with those matters.
   • His counsel has submitted that her evidence cannot be relied upon and that it has been coloured by the knowledge that a criminal charge is hanging over her for assisting an offender.
   • Definitions of words like pension, oats, politics, Whig and Tory were coloured by personal prejudice.
   • The account may well be colored by her desire to go to America.
   • Soon, the emotions begin to color and crowd out the actual facts of the situation.

   Synonyms

   exaggerate, overstate, overdraw, overdo, embroider, embellish, dramatize, enhance, varnish

   falsify, give a false account of, misrepresent, misreport, disguise, fudge, garble, distort, manipulate, take/quote out of context, bend, put a spin on, massage, strain