colour
/ˈkʌlə
/(US color)
noun
1 [mass 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: the lights flickered and changed colour...
- These are clad in stainless-steel panels with a highly milled finish that absorbs light and colour more than it reflects them.
- His once bright hazel eyes were now just round pools of color with no light reflecting in them.
- The different tints of colour in her hair caught the sun and she looked the pure image of beauty.
Synonyms
hue, shade, tint, tone, tinge, cast, tincture
1.1 [count 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...
- In her world, the colors were black, white, purple, red, or gray.
- They range in colours from black to lightest blonde with varying shades of ash, gold, beige, red-violet copper and auburn.
- 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.
1.2The 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...
- A number of photographs, in colour and black and white, show the various facets of the process in great detail.
- Resolution in color television imagery is also based on principles of optical mixing.
- He compared the two scenarios to the difference between black and white and color television.
1.3Rosiness 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...
- Quinn wheezed with embarrassment as color rushed to her face.
- Laurel smiled deeply and a healthy, warm color flooded her face.
- Mrs Grimshaw's face began to flood with intense colour.
Synonyms
redness, pinkness, rosiness, reddening, ruddiness, blush, flush, high colour, glow, bloom
1.4A substance used to give something a particular colour: lip colour...
- She ran a brush through her hair and added a dash of color to her lips, and then shrugged at herself in the mirror.
- Lips, she added, should be glossed or bordered by lip liner that closely matches the chosen lip colour.
- For lips, always use a pencil, but be sure to match it to your lip colour.
Synonyms
paint, pigment, colourant, coloration, dye, stain, tint, wash
1.5 [count noun] Heraldry 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.The first and second floor fronts would have panels in terracotta red, and the Coat of Arms would be in heraldic colours....
- The wreath is six twists, metal alternating with colour.
- Colour may not be placed on colour, nor may metal on metal.
1.6 [count noun] Snooker Any of the balls other than the white cue ball and the reds: Hendry potted the last four colours to win 5-4...
- 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.
- Another tactical battle goes to the final colours and it is Hendry who crosses the winning line by potting the blue.
2 [mass noun] Pigmentation of the skin, especially as an indication of someone’s race: discrimination on the basis of colour...
- Racism is the belief that mankind is divided into races, skin color or religion, making one member of an ethnic group view the other as inferior.
- When will the world ever be able to put this issue of skin colour and race to rest?
- You should be proud of your skin color no matter what race you are.
Synonyms
skin colour, skin colouring, skin tone, complexion, colouring, pigmentation;
race, ethnic group, stock
2.1 [count noun] A group of people considered as being distinguished by skin pigmentation: all colours and nationalities...
- To many, it means students of all colors and backgrounds will populate our nations' universities in harmony.
- We have to respect the open and free society that Europe has developed and respect all citizens of all nations, religions and colors.
- We are men and women, rich and poor, black and white, and all colors of the human rainbow.
3 [mass noun] Vivid appearance resulting from the juxtaposition of many bright things: for colour, plant groups of winter-flowering pansies...
- His garden is a vivid display of summer colour and George delights in having the time to enjoy it.
- These make ideal portable plants providing a fragrant perfume and vivid colour in early to mid-summer.
- Attached to a branch of a tree were half a dozen green and yellow plastic water containers that provided a splash of colour in the bright, dust coloured landscape.
3.1Features that lend a particularly interesting quality to something: a town full of colour and character...
- 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.
- A cascade of novels and films featuring the colour and spice of the country has made its way onto bookshelves and into movie houses.
- Good conversation features colloquialisms, colour and the natural rhythm of speech.
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
3.2Variety of musical tone or expression: orchestral colour...
- All of the orchestral color and variety of the original has been encapsulated in his version.
- Without a clear melody, color becomes the paramount musical element.
- First and foremost, all work should consider the musical elements of tone, color, dynamics and phrasing.
4 (colours) An 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: it was Devon Loch’s first victory in the colours of his royal owner it will be strange running on to the pitch in another team’s colours...
- Bromley was famed for his meticulous preparation, producing his own racecard detailing the jockeys' colours and other key details.
- As today, all the jockeys wore their colours - a racing jersey that identified that rider to the crowd.
- Most owners dream of having a horse running in the Grand National in their colours.
4.1 (also school colours) 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.At the Festival Games he cleared 3.80 metres and was awarded his school colours....
- 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
4.2chiefly British 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...
- 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.
- 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.
- From what I've seen, this country identifies more with its flag and its colours than any other.
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: many events in her past had taken on a different colour...
- She tells an engaging contemporary tale in all its colors, nuances and shades.
- After all, it is about the colours and shades of life.
6 [mass noun] Physics A quantized property of quarks which can take three values (designated blue, green, and red) for each flavour.Nuclear power is the process by which we can extract energy from the colour force between quarks....
- But quite unlike photons, gluons do carry color charge, the analog of electric charge.
- This property means that the closer quarks come to each other, the weaker the quark colour charge and the weaker the interaction.
verb
1 [with object] Change the colour of (something) by painting, dyeing, or shading it: he coloured her hair with a selection of blonde and brown shades...
- I also got my hair coloured this week.
- I have my hair coloured every visit, and cut every second visit.
- Now a native doctor himself, he uses the same medicines to colour the silk for his yarn paintings.
Synonyms
tint, dye, tinge, shade, pigment, stain, colour-wash, colour in, paint
1.1 [no object] Take on a different colour: the foliage will not colour well if the soil is too rich...
- The two pieces of filling were put in at different times, he explains, and have coloured differently.
- As the clear lens slowly colours with age, your vision gradually may acquire a brownish shade.
- It has a rich and unique fragrance when made and colours with age.
1.2Fill (a shape or outline) with colour: he hated finger-painting and colouring in pictures...
- I've worked out how to colour line drawings, hurrah.
- The twins sheltered from the storms by learning the art of batik painting, colouring in the exotic fish between their wax outlines.
- 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.
1.3Make vivid or picturesque: he has coloured the dance with gestures from cabaret and vaudeville
2 [no object] (Of a person or their skin) show embarrassment or shame by becoming red; blush: she coloured slightly...
- Judith colored slightly from both embarrassment and anger.
- Michelle coloured slightly and turned back to her book.
- Rebecca instantly colored, and raised a hand to rub absently at her cheeks, drawing all the more attention to the fact that she was embarrassed.
Synonyms
blush, redden, go pink/red, turn red/crimson/scarlet, flush, crimson
2.1 [with object] Cause (a person’s skin) to change in colour: rage coloured his pale complexion...
- 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.
- She slowly dropped her gaze to the book on the table, but he could see a hint of rosy pink colored her pale cheeks.
2.2 [with object] (Of an emotion) imbue (a person’s voice) with a particular tone: surprise coloured 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.
- Tim clapped her on the shoulder, pride coloring his voice.
3 [with object] Influence, especially in a negative way; distort: the experiences had coloured her whole existence...
- He was nineteen when his mother died in 1821 and his boyhood experiences would colour his whole prodigious output of novels, poetry and plays.
- Every relationship here is colored by the influence of these intoxicants, and every aspect of every relationship.
- What they see is coloured by their previous experiences.
Synonyms
influence, affect, slant, taint, pervert, warp, twist, skew, distort, bias, prejudice, poison
3.1Misrepresent by distortion or exaggeration: witnesses might colour evidence to make a story saleable...
- 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.
- The account may well be colored by her desire to go to America.
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
Phrases
lend (or give) colour to
sail under false colours
show one's true colours
under colour of
with flying colours
Origin
Middle English: from Old French colour (noun), colourer (verb), from Latin color (noun), colorare (verb).
In Old French it was spelled colour, in Latin color. The main English spelling has been colour since the medieval period, though color, now the usual spelling in American English, was sometimes used from the 15th century onwards. Since the late 16th century the distinguishing flag of a ship or regiment has been known as its colours, a meaning that lies behind a number of common English expressions. To show your true colours is to reveal your real character or intentions, especially when these are disreputable. A ship engaged in illegal trading or in time of war might fly a bogus flag to deceive the authorities or the enemy, a practice known as ‘sailing under false colours’. If the ship subsequently revealed itself to the enemy by firing on them or fleeing, it was ‘showing its true colours’. The phrase nail your colours to the mast, meaning ‘to declare openly and firmly what you believe or support’, is also naval: a ship in battle might nail its flag to the mast so that there was no possibility of it being lowered in defeat. And to come through with flying colours is to come successfully through a test, like a victorious warship returning to port with its flag unscathed.