The Collaborative Dictionary

White \White\ (hw[imac]t), a. [Compar. Whiter (hw[imac]t"[~e]r); superl. Whitest.] [OE. whit, AS. hw[imac]t; akin to OFries. and OS. hw[imac]t, D. wit, G. weiss, OHG. w[imac]z, hw[imac]z, Icel. hv[imac]tr, Sw. hvit, Dan. hvid, Goth. hweits, Lith. szveisti, to make bright, Russ. sviet' light, Skr. [,c]v[=e]ta white, [,c]vit to be bright. [root]42. Cf. Wheat, Whitsunday.] [1913 Webster]

Reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; having the color of pure snow; snowy; -- the opposite of black or dark; as, white paper; a white skin. "Pearls white." --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] White as the whitest lily on a stream. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]

Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear. [1913 Webster] Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! They come! they come!" --Byron. [1913 Webster]

Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure. [1913 Webster] White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] No whiter page than Addison's remains. --Pope. [1913 Webster]

Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary. [1913 Webster] Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head So old and white as this. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable. [1913 Webster] On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling. [1913 Webster] Come forth, my white spouse. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] I am his white boy, and will not be gullet. --Ford. [1913 Webster] Note: White is used in many self-explaining compounds, as white-backed, white-bearded, white-footed. [1913 Webster] White alder. (Bot.) See Sweet pepper bush, under Pepper. White ant (Zool.), any one of numerous species of social pseudoneuropterous insects of the genus Termes. These insects are very abundant in tropical countries, and form large and complex communities consisting of numerous asexual workers of one or more kinds, of large-headed asexual individuals called soldiers, of one or more queens (or fertile females) often having the body enormously distended by the eggs, and, at certain seasons of numerous winged males, together with the larvae and pupae of each kind in various stages of development. Many of the species construct large and complicated nests, sometimes in the form of domelike structures rising several feet above the ground and connected with extensive subterranean galleries and chambers. In their social habits they closely resemble the true ants. They feed upon animal and vegetable substances of various kinds, including timber, and are often very destructive to buildings and furniture. White arsenic (Chem.), arsenious oxide, As2O3, a substance of a white color, and vitreous adamantine luster, having an astringent, sweetish taste. It is a deadly poison. White bass (Zool.), a fresh-water North American bass (Roccus chrysops) found in the Great Likes. White bear (Zool.), the polar bear. See under Polar. White blood cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte. White brand (Zool.), the snow goose. White brass, a white alloy of copper; white copper. White campion. (Bot.) (a) A kind of catchfly (Silene stellata) with white flowers. (b) A white-flowered Lychnis (Lychnis vespertina). White canon (R. C. Ch.), a Premonstratensian. White caps, the members of a secret organization in various of the United States, who attempt to drive away or reform obnoxious persons by lynch-law methods. They appear masked in white. Their actions resembled those of the Ku Klux Klan in some ways but they were not formally affiliated with the Klan, and their victims were often not black. White cedar (Bot.), an evergreen tree of North America (Thuja occidentalis), also the related Cupressus thyoides, or Chamaecyparis sphaeroidea, a slender evergreen conifer which grows in the so-called cedar swamps of the Northern and Atlantic States. Both are much valued for their durable timber. In California the name is given to the Libocedrus decurrens, the timber of which is also useful, though often subject to dry rot. --Goodale. The white cedar of Demerara, Guiana, etc., is a lofty tree (Icica altissima syn. Bursera altissima) whose fragrant wood is used for canoes and cabinetwork, as it is not attacked by insect. White cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte. White cell-blood (Med.), leucocythaemia. White clover (Bot.), a species of small perennial clover bearing white flowers. It furnishes excellent food for cattle and horses, as well as for the honeybee. See also under Clover. White copper, a whitish alloy of copper. See German silver, under German. White copperas (Min.), a native hydrous sulphate of iron; coquimbite. White coral (Zool.), an ornamental branched coral (Amphihelia oculata) native of the Mediterranean. White corpuscle. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte. White cricket (Zool.), the tree cricket. White crop, a crop of grain which loses its green color, or becomes white, in ripening, as wheat, rye, barley, and oats, as distinguished from a green crop, or a root crop. White currant (Bot.), a variety of the common red currant, having white berries. White daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. See under Daisy. White damp, a kind of poisonous gas encountered in coal mines. --Raymond. White elephant (Zool.), (a) a whitish, or albino, variety of the Asiatic elephant. (b) see white elephant in the vocabulary. White elm (Bot.), a majestic tree of North America (Ulmus Americana), the timber of which is much used for hubs of wheels, and for other purposes. White ensign. See Saint George's ensign, under Saint. White feather, a mark or symbol of cowardice. See To show the white feather, under Feather, n. White fir (Bot.), a name given to several coniferous trees of the Pacific States, as Abies grandis, and Abies concolor. White flesher (Zool.), the ruffed grouse. See under Ruffed. [Canada] White frost. See Hoarfrost. White game (Zool.), the white ptarmigan. White garnet (Min.), leucite. White grass (Bot.), an American grass (Leersia Virginica) with greenish-white paleae. White grouse. (Zool.) (a) The white ptarmigan. (b) The prairie chicken. [Local, U. S.] White grub (Zool.), the larva of the June bug and other allied species. These grubs eat the roots of grasses and other plants, and often do much damage. White hake (Zool.), the squirrel hake. See under Squirrel. White hawk, or White kite (Zool.), the hen harrier. White heat, the temperature at which bodies become incandescent, and appear white from the bright light which they emit. White hellebore (Bot.), a plant of the genus Veratrum (Veratrum album) See Hellebore,

White herring, a fresh, or unsmoked, herring, as distinguished from a red, or cured, herring. [R.] --Shak. White hoolet (Zool.), the barn owl. [Prov. Eng.] White horses (Naut.), white-topped waves; whitecaps. The White House. See under House. White ibis (Zool.), an American ibis (Guara alba) having the plumage pure white, except the tips of the wings, which are black. It inhabits tropical America and the Southern United States. Called also Spanish curlew. White iron. (a) Thin sheets of iron coated with tin; tinned iron. (b) A hard, silvery-white cast iron containing a large proportion of combined carbon. White iron pyrites (Min.), marcasite. White land, a tough clayey soil, of a whitish hue when dry, but blackish after rain. [Eng.] White lark (Zool.), the snow bunting. White lead. (a) A carbonate of lead much used in painting, and for other purposes; ceruse. (b) (Min.) Native lead carbonate; cerusite. White leather, buff leather; leather tanned with alum and salt. White leg (Med.), milk leg. See under Milk. White lettuce (Bot.), rattlesnake root. See under Rattlesnake. White lie. See under Lie. White light. (a) (Physics) Light having the different colors in the same proportion as in the light coming directly from the sun, without having been decomposed, as by passing through a prism. See the Note under Color, n.,

(b) A kind of firework which gives a brilliant white illumination for signals, etc. White lime, a solution or preparation of lime for whitewashing; whitewash. White line (Print.), a void space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a blank line. White meat. (a) Any light-colored flesh, especially of poultry. (b) Food made from milk or eggs, as butter, cheese, etc. [1913 Webster] Driving their cattle continually with them, and feeding only upon their milk and white meats. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] White merganser (Zool.), the smew. White metal. (a) Any one of several white alloys, as pewter, britannia, etc. (b) (Metal.) A fine grade of copper sulphide obtained at a certain stage in copper smelting. White miller. (Zool.) (a) The common clothes moth. (b) A common American bombycid moth (Spilosoma Virginica) which is pure white with a few small black spots; -- called also ermine moth, and virgin moth. See Woolly bear, under Woolly. White money, silver money. White mouse (Zool.), the albino variety of the common mouse. White mullet (Zool.), a silvery mullet (Mugil curema) ranging from the coast of the United States to Brazil; -- called also blue-back mullet, and liza. White nun (Zool.), the smew; -- so called from the white crest and the band of black feathers on the back of its head, which give the appearance of a hood. White oak. (Bot.) See under Oak. White owl. (Zool.) (a) The snowy owl. (b) The barn owl. White partridge (Zool.), the white ptarmigan. White perch. (Zool.) (a) A North American fresh-water bass (Morone Americana) valued as a food fish. (b) The croaker, or fresh-water drum. (c) Any California surf fish. White pine. (Bot.) See the Note under Pine. White poplar (Bot.), a European tree (Populus alba) often cultivated as a shade tree in America; abele. White poppy (Bot.), the opium-yielding poppy. See Poppy. White powder, a kind of gunpowder formerly believed to exist, and to have the power of exploding without noise. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] A pistol charged with white powder. --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster] White precipitate. (Old Chem.) See under Precipitate. White rabbit. (Zool.) (a) The American northern hare in its winter pelage. (b) An albino rabbit. White rent, (a) (Eng. Law) Formerly, rent payable in silver; -- opposed to black rent. See Blackmail, n.,

(b) A rent, or duty, of eight pence, payable yearly by every tinner in Devon and Cornwall to the Duke of Cornwall, as lord of the soil. [Prov. Eng.] White rhinoceros. (Zool.) (a) The one-horned, or Indian, rhinoceros (Rhinoceros Indicus). See Rhinoceros. (b) The umhofo. White ribbon, the distinctive badge of certain organizations for the promotion of temperance or of moral purity; as, the White-ribbon Army. White rope (Naut.), untarred hemp rope. White rot. (Bot.) (a) Either of several plants, as marsh pennywort and butterwort, which were thought to produce the disease called rot in sheep. (b) A disease of grapes. See White rot, under Rot. White sage (Bot.), a white, woolly undershrub (Eurotia lanata) of Western North America; -- called also winter fat. White salmon (Zool.), the silver salmon. White salt, salt dried and calcined; decrepitated salt. White scale (Zool.), a scale insect (Aspidiotus Nerii) injurious to the orange tree. See Orange scale, under Orange. White shark (Zool.), a species of man-eating shark. See under Shark. White softening. (Med.) See Softening of the brain, under Softening. White spruce. (Bot.) See Spruce, n.,

White squall (Naut.), a sudden gust of wind, or furious blow, which comes up without being marked in its approach otherwise than by whitecaps, or white, broken water, on the surface of the sea. White staff, the badge of the lord high treasurer of England. --Macaulay. White stork (Zool.), the common European stork. White sturgeon. (Zool.) See Shovelnose (d) . White sucker. (Zool.) (a) The common sucker. (b) The common red horse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum). White swelling (Med.), a chronic swelling of the knee, produced by a strumous inflammation of the synovial membranes of the kneejoint and of the cancellar texture of the end of the bone forming the kneejoint; -- applied also to a lingering chronic swelling of almost any kind. White tombac. See Tombac. White trout (Zool.), the white weakfish, or silver squeteague (Cynoscion nothus), of the Southern United States. White vitriol (Chem.), hydrous sulphate of zinc. See White vitriol, under Vitriol. White wagtail (Zool.), the common, or pied, wagtail. White wax, beeswax rendered white by bleaching. White whale (Zool.), the beluga. White widgeon (Zool.), the smew. White wine. any wine of a clear, transparent color, bordering on white, as Madeira, sherry, Lisbon, etc.; -- distinguished from wines of a deep red color, as port and Burgundy. "White wine of Lepe." --Chaucer. White witch, a witch or wizard whose supernatural powers are supposed to be exercised for good and beneficent purposes. --Addison. --Cotton Mather. White wolf. (Zool.) (a) A light-colored wolf (Canis laniger) native of Thibet; -- called also chanco, golden wolf, and Thibetan wolf. (b) The albino variety of the gray wolf. White wren (Zool.), the willow warbler; -- so called from the color of the under parts. [1913 Webster] [1913 Webster]

English

Adjective

whitest

White is the combination of all the colors of the visible light spectrum. White is an achromatic color, since it has no hue.

The impression of white light can be created by mixing appropriate intensities of the primary colors of light — red, green and blue — a process called additive mixing, but the illumination provided by this technique has significant differences from that produced by incandescence.

In nature, white results when transparent fibers, particles, or droplets are in a transparent matrix of a substantially different refractive index. Examples include classic "white" substances such as sugar, foam, pure sand or snow, cotton, clouds, and milk. Crystal boundaries and imperfections can also make otherwise transparent materials white, as in the milky quartz or the microcrystalline structure of a seashell. This is also true for artificial paints and pigments, where white results when finely divided transparent material of a high refractive index is suspended in a contrasting binder. Typically paints contain calcium carbonate and/or synthetic rutile with no other pigments if a white color is desired.

Etymology and definitions

The word white comes from the Common Germanic hwitaz though the Old English word hwīt. The word designates the perception of light containing equal amounts of all wavelengths in the visible spectrum.

Shade

Paint

In painting, white can be crafted by reflecting ambient light from a white pigment, although the ambient light must be white light, or else the white pigment will appear the color of the light. White when mixed with black produces gray. To art students, the use of white can present particular problems, and there is at least one training course specializing in the use of white in art. In watercolor painting, white areas are the absence of paint on the paper. There are also speculations about the use of white and other colors.

Light

Until Newton's work became accepted, most scientists believed that white was the fundamental color of light; and that other colors were formed only by adding something to light. Newton demonstrated this was not true by passing white light through a prism, then through another prism. If the colors were added by the prism, the second prism should have added further colors to the single-colored beam. Since the single-colored beam remained a single color, Newton concluded that the prism merely separated the colors already present in the light. White light is the effect of combining the visible colors of light in equal proportions.

In the science of lighting, there is a continuum of colors of light that can be called "white". One set of colors that deserves this description is the color emitted via the process called incandescence, by a black body at various relatively-high temperatures. For example, the color of a black body at a temperature of 2848 kelvins matches that produced by domestic incandescent light bulbs. It is said that "the color temperature of such a light bulb is 2848 K". The white light used in theatre illumination has a color temperature of about 3200 K. Daylight can vary from a cool red up to a bluish 25,000 K. Not all black body radiation can be considered white light: the background radiation of the universe, to name an extreme example, is only a few kelvins and is quite invisible.

Objects

While the color of a light source can be reasonably measured by its correlated color temperature, a different approach is required for objects since different samples may appear white without a reference. Thus, assessment of whiteness requires a comparison. The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) prescribes one such method.

Computer color temperature

Computer displays often have a color temperature control, allowing the user to select the color temperature (usually from a small set of fixed values) of the light emitted when the computer produces the electrical signal corresponding to "white". The RGB coordinates of white are (255, 255, 255).

In human culture

Astronomy

• Stars of stellar class A are white.

Board Games

• White is one of the two opponents in many board games of abstract strategy, such as go, chess, and checkers.

• In the board game Cluedo, the maid Mrs. White is a suspect and a playing piece.

Computers

• A white hat describes a person who is ethically opposed to the abuse of computer systems, in contrast with a black hat, a person who abuses computer systems.

Cultural symbolism

• White often represents purity or innocence in Western Civilization, particularly as white clothing or objects are easy to stain. In most Western countries white is the color worn by brides at weddings. Angels are typically depicted as clothed in white robes. In early film Westerns the stereotypically "good guy" wore a white hat (earning them the name "White Hats") while the "bad guy" wore black (earning them the name "Black Hats").
  • This can be reversed as a deliberate play on conventions, by having the evil character dress in white, as a symbol of their hypocrisy or arrogance. For example, Don Fanucci in "The Godfather, Part II" is an evil character, but wears an expensive all-white suit as a sign of his power and prestige.

• In a highly-formal social function, the traditional dress for men attending is "white tie and tails"-- a white bow tie and a swallowtail coat.

• In ancient China, white was the symbol of West and Metal, one of the main five colors.

• In Chinese, Japanese and Korean tradition, white is the color of mourning and death.

• In Indian tradition, white is also the color of purity and sacredness. It is also used for depicting Peace and Purity. However it is also the color of mourning. Women are dressed in white after the demise of their husband.

Ethnography

• The term white is often used in the West to denote the race of fair-skinned Caucasoids people of European descent with pale to white skin color, whose skin color actually ranges from pink to pale brown. It has been suggested that the colors beige or peach are a more accurate representation of the color of most Caucasians. For more details, see Whites.

Geography

• Mauna Kea means white mountain in Hawaiian because, due to its high altitude, the top of this mountain is usually covered in snow during the winter.

Gifts

• A white elephant is a gift or possession that creates a burden or difficulty for the recipient.

Government and Industry

• A white paper can be an authoritative report on a major issue, as by a team of experts; a government report outlining policy; or a short treatise whose purpose is to educate industry customers. It is called white paper because it was originally bound in white.

Heraldry

• In English heraldry, white or silver (color) signified brightness, purity, virtue, and innocence.

• Arthur Charles Fox-Davies has argued that white can be considered a tincture in heraldry separate from its use to represent argent, and in fact the labels borne on the arms, crests and supporters of members of the British Royal Family other than the reigning sovereign are invariably shown as white.

Horticulture

• Senecio cineraria is an old fashioned and popular garden plant due to its white-wooly foliage.

Literature

• White could be associated with horror. The famous chapter 42 ("The Whiteness of The Whale") of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick speculates about it.

Magic (paranormal)

• Healing or "good" paranormal magic is called White magic
• A Treatise on White Magic is a book by Alice Bailey, a Theosophist.

Meteorology

• White is commonly the color of snow and ice.

• Whiteout is a weather condition in which visibility is reduced and surface definition lost in snowy environments.

Military

• A white flag is an international sign of either surrender, or truce, that is, it is a sign of peaceful intent, typically at time of war.

• To "show the white feather" is to display cowardice. In cockfighting, a white feather in the tail is considered a mark of inferior breeding. In Victorian England a purported coward would be presented with a white feather.

Music

• The White Album, released in 1968, was the best selling record album by the Beatles.
• White Light/White Heat, the second studio album by Velvet Underground
• Also the White Albun, released in 2004 is an album from Australian band TISM.
• White Magicis an American rock band.
• In the folk song "Casey Jones," there is a line "You've got a white eye," meaning the person being addressed is blind.
• The White Stripes is a famous band with the members Jack White and Meg White.
• White Snake is also a famous band.
• White is the stagename of a famous producer.

Parapsychology

• It is believed by those adherent to Theosophy, as well as by adherents of religions derived from Theosophy such as the I AM Activity and the Church Universal and Triumphant, that the deities they regard as the governing deities of Earth, the Great White Brotherhood (Ascended masters), have white auras. (That is why they are called the Great White Brotherhood.)

Politics

• The White House is the residence of the President of the United States.

• White is often associated with Capitalism (as opposed to Communism). This originated from Royalist rebellions against the French Revolution (see Revolt in the Vendée), known as the White terror. It re-emerged in the years following World War I, with civil wars fought between "Reds" and "Whites", for instance the Civil War in Russia and the Civil War in Finland.

• In both the French and Russian Revolutions, white symbolized royalism.

• The White Revolution (Persian: Enghelab-e-Sephid) was a far-reaching series of reforms launched in 1963 by the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

• The White Rose was a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of five students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor.

• The white ribbon is worn by movements denouncing violence against women. It is also worn by some feminists and was a symbol for peace in Quebec, in the beginning of 2003, as part of the popular opposition to war on Iraq.

• When the government of a nation is in chaos and a strong leader emerges and establishes a dictatorship, he is referred to as a man on a white horse. Examples include Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco, and Juan Peron.

Propaganda

• Whitewash, figuratively, means an attempt to obscure the truth by issuing a blanket of lies. See propaganda. Also, it refers to the action of burying or shoving someone's face into the snow, as a form of bullying, or harassment (generally).

Psychedelic drugs

• Augustus Owsley Stanley III began to manufacture LSD in Los Angeles in 1965 when it was still legal. Owsley's LSD came in 270 microgram tablets of white (White Lightning) and purple (Purple Haze).

Religion

• The liturgical robes of priests from various religions are often white.

• The Roman Catholic Pope's cassock is white.

• White robes (along with a green apron) are worn inside LDS Temples.

• In Judaism and Christianity, a white dove is typically a peace symbol.

• White was the symbol of Catholics, including the House of Guise and the Catholic League, during the French Wars of Religion, as illustrated in the 1852 painting A Huguenot on St. Bartholomew's Day by John Everett Millais.

Romantic love

• White is the traditional color of bridal dress in both western (European) and Japanese weddings. In Western weddings, a white dress is thought to be symbolic of purity (the bride has not engaged in pre-marital sex). This is also said to be the symbolism of the veil. In Japanese weddings, white is to symbolize the "death" of their former family and their introduction into their new family.

Sexuality

• In the bandana code of the gay leather subculture, wearing a white bandana means one is into mutual masturbation.

Sound engineering

• White noise, in acoustics, is a sibilant sound that is often a nuisance, although it can also be deliberately created for test purposes.

Sports

• White is the color of the usual cricket clothing, usually referred to as 'whites'. It is a result of cricket being a summer game with players being exposed to direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time.

• Australian Rules Football umpires' traditional uniform color is white. Nowadays most competitions (including AFL and VFL) provide other colors to ensure the umpires aren't clashing with players uniforms for higher visibility. At lower levels, however white is still the predominant color.

• White was originally the national auto racing color of Japan until international racing colors were abandoned due to sponsorship.

Television

• In Western TV programs, and Western movies, the "good guy" usually wears a white hat. But in the dramatic series Dallas, J. R. Ewing wears a white hat in defiance of this convention, inasmuch as there is nothing "good" about him.

Vexillology

• Vatican City has a flag of yellow and white (although in normal European heraldry one is not supposed to use these two colors together because both represent metals--yellow represents gold and white represents silver) to show that the Church is not bound by secular rules.
• In the Ethnic Almanac, under the heading of the Irish, it says that on the flag of Ireland the green stands for the Catholics, the orange for the Protestants, and the white for the unity between them. The Almanac says about this, "No comment."

References

See also

• List of colors

External links

• All About White

nah:Iztāc