Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Color
Col′or
(kŭl′ẽr)
, Noun.
[Written also
colour
.] [OF.
color
, colur
, colour
, F. couleur
, L. color
; prob. akin to celare
to conceal (the color taken as that which covers). See Helmet
.] 1.
A property depending on the relations of light to the eye, by which individual and specific differences in the hues and tints of objects are apprehended in vision;
as, gay
colors
; sad colors
, etc.☞ The sensation of color depends upon a peculiar function of the retina or optic nerve, in consequence of which rays of light produce different effects according to the length of their waves or undulations, waves of a certain length producing the sensation of red, shorter waves green, and those still shorter blue, etc. White, or ordinary, light consists of waves of various lengths so blended as to produce no effect of color, and the color of objects depends upon their power to absorb or reflect a greater or less proportion of the rays which fall upon them.
2.
Any hue distinguished from white or black.
3.
The hue or color characteristic of good health and spirits; ruddy complexion.
Give
color
to my pale cheek. Shakespeare
4.
That which is used to give color; a paint; a pigment;
as, oil
. colors
or water colors
5.
That which covers or hides the real character of anything; semblance; excuse; disguise; appearance.
They had let down the boat into the sea, under
color
as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship. Acts xxvii. 30.
That he should die is worthy policy;
But yet we want a
But yet we want a
color
for his death. Shakespeare
6.
Shade or variety of character; kind; species.
Boys and women are for the most part cattle of this
color
. Shakespeare
7.
A distinguishing badge, as a flag or similar symbol (usually in the plural);
as, the
. colors
or color
of a ship or regiment; the colors
of a race horse (that is, of the cap and jacket worn by the jockey)In the United States each regiment of infantry and artillery has two
colors
, one national and one regimental. Farrow.
8.
(Law)
An apparent right; as where the defendant in trespass gave to the plaintiff an appearance of title, by stating his title specially, thus removing the cause from the jury to the court.
Blackstone.
☞ Color is express when it is averred in the pleading, and implied when it is implied in the pleading.
Body color
. See under
– Body
. Color blindness
, total or partial inability to distinguish or recognize colors. See
– Daltonism
. Complementary color
, one of two colors so related to each other that when blended together they produce white light; – so called because each color makes up to the other what it lacks to make it white. Artificial or pigment colors, when mixed, produce effects differing from those of the primary colors, in consequence of partial absorption.
– Of color
(as persons, races, etc.), not of the white race; – commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed.
– Primary colors
, those developed from the solar beam by the prism, viz., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, which are reduced by some authors to three, – red, green, and violet-blue. These three are sometimes called
– fundamental colors
. Subjective color
or Accidental color
a false or spurious color seen in some instances, owing to the persistence of the luminous impression upon the retina, and a gradual change of its character, as where a wheel perfectly white, and with a circumference regularly subdivided, is made to revolve rapidly over a dark object, the teeth of the wheel appear to the eye of different shades of color varying with the rapidity of rotation. See
Accidental colors
, under Accidental
.Col′or
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Colored
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Coloring
.] [F.
colorer
.] 1.
To change or alter the hue or tint of, by dyeing, staining, painting, etc.; to dye; to tinge; to paint; to stain.
The rays, to speak properly, are not
colored
; in them there is nothing else than a certain power and disposition to stir up a sensation of this or that color. Sir I. Newton.
2.
To change or alter, as if by dyeing or painting; to give a false appearance to; usually, to give a specious appearance to; to cause to appear attractive; to make plausible; to palliate or excuse;
as, the facts were
. colored
by his prejudicesHe
colors
the falsehood of Æneas by an express command from Jupiter to forsake the queen. Dryden.
3.
To hide.
[Obs.]
That by his fellowship he
Both his estate and love from skill of any wight.
color
mightBoth his estate and love from skill of any wight.
Spenser.
Col′or
,Verb.
I.
To acquire color; to turn red, especially in the face; to blush.
– Col′or-a-ble-ness
, Noun.
Col′or-a-bly
, adv.
Colorable
and subtle crimes, that seldom are taken within the walk of human justice. Hooker.
Webster 1828 Edition
Color
COLOR
, n.1.
In physics, a property inherent in light, which, by a difference in the rays and the laws of refraction, or some other cause, gives to bodies particular appearances to the eye. The principal colors are red, orange, yellow, green blue, indigo and violet. White is not properly a color; as a white body reflects the rays of light without separating them. Black bodies, on the contrary, absorb all the rays, or nearly all, and therefore black is no distinct color. But in common discourse, white and black are denominated colors; and all the colors admit of many shades of difference.2.
Appearance of a body to the eye, or a quality of sensation, caused by the rays of light; hue; dye; as the color of gold, or of indigo.3.
A red color; the freshness or appearance of blood in the face.My cheeks no longer did their color boast.
4.
Appearance to the mind; as, prejudice puts a false color upon objects.5.
Superficial cover; palliation; that which serves to give an appearance of right; as, their sin admitted no color or excuse.6.
External appearance; false show; pretense; guise.Under the color of commending him,
I have access my own love to prefer.
7.
Kind; species; character; complexion.Boys and women are, for the most part, cattle of this color.
8.
That which is used for coloring; paint; as red lead, ocher, orpiment, cinnabar, or vermilion, &c.9.
Colors, with a plural termination, in the military art, a flag, ensign or standard, borne in an army or fleet. [See Flag.]10.
In law, color in pleading is when the defendant in assize or trespass, gives to the plaintiff a color or appearance of title, by stating his title specially; thus removing the cause from the jury to the court.Water-colors are such as are used in painting with gum-water or size, without being mixed with oil.
COLOR
,Verb.
T.
1.
To change or alter the external appearance of a body or substance; to dye; to tinge; to paint; to stain; as, to color cloth. Generally, to color is to change from white to some other color.2.
To give a specious appearance; to set in a fair light; to palliate; to excuse.He colors the falsehood of Aeneas by an express command of Jupiter to forsake the queen.
3.
To make plausible; to exaggerate in representation.To color a strangers good, is when a freeman allows a foreigner to enter goods at the custom house in his name, to avoid the aliens duty.
COLOR
,Verb.
I.