Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Colored

Col′ored

,
Adj.
1.
Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
The lime rod,
colored
as the glede.
Chaucer.
The
colored
rainbow arched wide.
Spenser.
2.
Specious; plausible; adorned so as to appear well;
as, a highly
colored
description
.
Sir G. C. Lewis.
His
colored
crime with craft to cloke.
Spenser.
3.
Of some other color than black or white.
4.
(Ethnol.)
Of some other color than white; having a skin color darker than that of caucasian people; mostly applied to negroes or persons having negro blood;
as, a
colored
man; the
colored
people
. Opposite of
white
and
caucasian
.

Syn. – coloured, dark-skinned.
5.
(Bot.)
Of some other color than green.
Colored
, meaning, as applied to foliage, of some other color than green.
Gray.
☞ In botany, green is not regarded as a color, but white is.
Wood.

Webster 1828 Edition


Colored

COLORED

,
pp.
1.
Having the external appearance changed; dyed; tinged; painted stained.
2.
Streaked; striped; having a diversity of hues.
3.
Having a specious appearance.
Colored people, black people, Africans or their descendants, mixed or unmixed.

Definition 2024


colored

colored

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

colored (comparative more colored, superlative most colored)

  1. Having a color.
    Wash colored items separately from whites and darks to prevent the colors from bleeding.
  2. Having a particular color or kind of color.
    The room was colored red, with a dark-colored rug.
  3. Having prominent colors; colorful.
    The singer wore a colored shirt.
  4. Influenced pervasively but subtly.
    My opinions are colored by my upbringing.
  5. (US, now dated and potentially offensive) Of skin color other than the white; in particular: black.
    Being of an older generation, they considered themselves "colored ladies".
  6. (South Africa, potentially offensive) Of neither black nor white skin color.
    Most of the colored community speaks Afrikaans, whereas languages like Xhosa or Venda are typically spoken by blacks and English is spoken mostly by whites.
  7. (chiefly historical) Designated for use by colored people (in either the US or South African sense).
    a colored drinking fountain; a colored hospital

Translations

Noun

colored (plural coloreds)

  1. (US, now dated and offensive) A colored person.
  2. (laundry) A colored article of clothing.

Translations

Verb

colored

  1. simple past tense and past participle of color

See also

Wikipedia article on color