Coloured


[kuhl-er] /ˈkʌl ər/

noun, adjective, verb (used with or without object), Chiefly British.
1.
.
[kuhl-er] /ˈkʌl ər/
noun
1.
the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue.
2.
the natural appearance of the skin, especially of the face; complexion:
She has a lovely color.
3.
a ruddy complexion:
The wind and sun had given color to the sailor’s face.
4.
a blush:
His remarks brought the color to her face.
5.
vivid or distinctive quality, as of a literary work:
Melville’s description of a whaling voyage is full of color.
6.
details in description, customs, speech, habits, etc., of a place or period:
The novel takes place in New Orleans and contains much local color.
7.
something that is used for coloring; pigment; paint; tint; dye.
8.
background information, as anecdotes about players or competitors or analyses of plays, strategy, or performance, given by a sportscaster to heighten interest in a sportscast.
9.
colors.

10.
skin complexion of a particular people or ethnic group, especially when other than white: a person of color; people of color; a man of color; alumni of color; children of color.
11.
outward appearance or aspect; guise or show:
It was a lie, but it had the color of the truth.
12.
a pretext:
She did it under the color of doing a good deed.
13.
Painting. the general use or effect of the pigments in a picture.
14.
Phonetics. .
15.
Chiefly Law. an apparent or prima facie right or ground:
to hold possession under color of title.
16.
Music. .
17.
a trace or particle of valuable mineral, especially gold, as shown by washing auriferous gravel.
18.
Physics. any of the labels red, green, or blue that designate the three states in which quarks are expected to exist, or any of the corresponding labels for antiquark states.
Compare , .
19.
Printing. the amount of ink used.
20.
Heraldry. a tincture other than a fur or metal, usually including gules, azure, vert, sable, and purpure.
adjective
21.
involving, utilizing, yielding, or possessing color:
a color TV.
verb (used with object)
22.
to give or apply color to; tinge; paint; dye:
She colored her hair dark red.
23.
to cause to appear different from the reality:
In order to influence the jury, he colored his account of what had happened.
24.
to give a special character or distinguishing quality to:
His personal feelings color his writing.
verb (used without object)
25.
to take on or change color:
The ocean colored at dawn.
26.
to flush; blush:
He colored when confronted with the incriminating evidence.
Idioms
27.
call to the colors, to summon for service in the armed forces:
Thousands are being called to the colors.
28.
change color,

29.
with flying colors. .
/ˈkʌləd/
adjective
1.
possessing colour
2.
having a strong element of fiction or fantasy; distorted (esp in the phrase highly coloured)
/ˈkʌləd/
noun (pl) Coloureds, Coloured
1.
(old-fashioned, offensive) an individual who is not a White person, esp a Black person
2.
(South African)

adjective
3.
(old-fashioned, offensive) designating or relating to a Coloured person or Coloured people
/ˈkʌlə/
noun, verb
1.
the US spelling of colour
/ˈkʌlə/
noun
1.

2.
Also called chromatic colour

3.
a substance, such as a dye, pigment, or paint, that imparts colour to something
4.

5.
the use of all the hues in painting as distinct from composition, form, and light and shade
6.
the quantity and quality of ink used in a printing process
7.
the distinctive tone of a musical sound; timbre
8.
vividness, authenticity, or individuality: period colour
9.
semblance or pretext (esp in the phrases take on a different colour, under colour of)
10.
(US) a precious mineral particle, esp gold, found in auriferous gravel
11.
(physics) one of three characteristics of quarks, designated red, blue, or green, but having no relationship with the physical sensation
verb
12.
to give or apply colour to (something)
13.
(transitive) to give a convincing or plausible appearance to (something, esp to that which is spoken or recounted): to colour an alibi
14.
(transitive) to influence or distort (something, esp a report or opinion): anger coloured her judgment
15.
(intransitive) often foll by up. to become red in the face, esp when embarrassed or annoyed
16.
(intransitive) (esp of ripening fruit) to change hue
n.

early 13c., “skin color, complexion,” from Old French color “color, complexion, appearance” (Modern French couleur), from Latin color “color of the skin; color in general, hue; appearance,” from Old Latin colos, originally “a covering” (akin to celare “to hide, conceal”), from PIE root *kel- “to cover, conceal” (see cell).

For sense evolution, cf. Sanskrit varnah “covering, color,” related to vrnoti “covers,” and also see chroma. Meaning “visible color, color of something” is attested in English from c.1300. As “color as a property of things,” from late 14c. Old English words for “color” were hiw (“hue”), bleo.
v.

late 14c.; see color (n.); earliest use is figurative. Related: Colored; coloring.

chiefly British English spelling of color (q.v.); for ending see -or. Related: Coloured; colouring; colourful; colours.

color col·or (kŭl’ər)
n.

color
(kŭl’ər)

Our Living Language : When beams of colored light are mixed, or added, their wavelengths combine to form other colors. All spectral colors can be formed by mixing wavelengths corresponding to the additive primaries red, green, and blue. When two of the additive primaries are mixed in equal proportion, they form the complement of the third. Thus cyan (a mixture of green and blue) is the complement of red; magenta (a mixture of blue and red) is the complement of green; and yellow (a mixture of red and green) is the complement of blue. Mixing the three additive primaries in equal proportions reconstitutes white light. When light passes through a color filter, certain wavelengths are absorbed, or subtracted, while others are transmitted. The subtractive primaries cyan, magenta, and yellow can be combined using overlapping filters to form all other colors. When two of the subtractive primaries are combined in equal proportion, they form the additive primary whose wavelength they share. Thus overlapping filters of cyan (blue and green) and magenta (blue and red) filter out all wavelengths except blue; magenta (blue and red) and yellow (red and green) transmit only red; and yellow (red and green) and cyan (blue and green) transmit only green. Combining all three subtractive primaries in equal proportions filters out all wavelengths, producing black. Light striking a colored surface behaves similarly to light passing through a filter, with certain wavelengths being absorbed and others reflected. Pigments are combined to form different colors by a process of subtractive absorption of various wavelengths.

noun

Interesting background, esp details about players, etc, as used in sports coverage •A scholar in the mid-1920s wrote of color stuff as the enlivening human interest and spicy, inventive language used by sports writers to avoid mere facts: doing color, spoke of a shot put up by one of the players by calling it ”a Perot hook”: in, out, and in/ I told him I need some color for a magazine piece I’m doing (1938+ Media)

Related Terms

off color

The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18), horses (Zech. 1:8), raiment (Eccl. 9:8). Another Hebrew word so rendered is applied to marble (Esther 1:6), and a cognate word to the lily (Cant. 2:16). A different term, meaning “dazzling,” is applied to the countenance (Cant. 5:10). This colour was an emblem of purity and innocence (Mark 16:5; John 20:12; Rev. 19:8, 14), of joy (Eccl. 9:8), and also of victory (Zech. 6:3; Rev. 6:2). The hangings of the tabernacle court (Ex. 27:9; 38:9), the coats, mitres, bonnets, and breeches of the priests (Ex. 39:27,28), and the dress of the high priest on the day of Atonement (Lev. 16:4,32), were white. Black, applied to the hair (Lev. 13:31; Cant. 5:11), the complexion (Cant. 1:5), and to horses (Zech. 6:2,6). The word rendered “brown” in Gen. 30:32 (R.V., “black”) means properly “scorched”, i.e., the colour produced by the influence of the sun’s rays. “Black” in Job 30:30 means dirty, blackened by sorrow and disease. The word is applied to a mourner’s robes (Jer. 8:21; 14:2), to a clouded sky (1 Kings 18:45), to night (Micah 3:6; Jer. 4:28), and to a brook rendered turbid by melted snow (Job 6:16). It is used as symbolical of evil in Zech. 6:2, 6 and Rev. 6:5. It was the emblem of mourning, affliction, calamity (Jer. 14:2; Lam. 4:8; 5:10). Red, applied to blood (2 Kings 3;22), a heifer (Num. 19:2), pottage of lentils (Gen. 25:30), a horse (Zech. 1:8), wine (Prov. 23:31), the complexion (Gen. 25:25; Cant. 5:10). This colour is symbolical of bloodshed (Zech. 6:2; Rev. 6:4; 12:3). Purple, a colour obtained from the secretion of a species of shell-fish (the Murex trunculus) which was found in the Mediterranean, and particularly on the coasts of Phoenicia and Asia Minor. The colouring matter in each separate shell-fish amounted to only a single drop, and hence the great value of this dye. Robes of this colour were worn by kings (Judg. 8:26) and high officers (Esther 8:15). They were also worn by the wealthy and luxurious (Jer. 10:9; Ezek. 27:7; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4). With this colour was associated the idea of royalty and majesty (Judg. 8:26; Cant. 3:10; 7:5; Dan. 5:7, 16,29). Blue. This colour was also procured from a species of shell-fish, the chelzon of the Hebrews, and the Helix ianthina of modern naturalists. The tint was emblematic of the sky, the deep dark hue of the Eastern sky. This colour was used in the same way as purple. The ribbon and fringe of the Hebrew dress were of this colour (Num. 15:38). The loops of the curtains (Ex. 26:4), the lace of the high priest’s breastplate, the robe of the ephod, and the lace on his mitre, were blue (Ex. 28:28, 31, 37). Scarlet, or Crimson. In Isa. 1:18 a Hebrew word is used which denotes the worm or grub whence this dye was procured. In Gen. 38:28,30, the word so rendered means “to shine,” and expresses the brilliancy of the colour. The small parasitic insects from which this dye was obtained somewhat resembled the cochineal which is found in Eastern countries. It is called by naturalists Coccus ilics. The dye was procured from the female grub alone. The only natural object to which this colour is applied in Scripture is the lips, which are likened to a scarlet thread (Cant. 4:3). Scarlet robes were worn by the rich and luxurious (2 Sam. 1:24; Prov. 31:21; Jer. 4:30. Rev. 17:4). It was also the hue of the warrior’s dress (Nah. 2:3; Isa. 9:5). The Phoenicians excelled in the art of dyeing this colour (2 Chr. 2:7). These four colours–white, purple, blue, and scarlet–were used in the textures of the tabernacle curtains (Ex. 26:1, 31, 36), and also in the high priest’s ephod, girdle, and breastplate (Ex. 28:5, 6, 8, 15). Scarlet thread is mentioned in connection with the rites of cleansing the leper (Lev. 14:4, 6, 51) and of burning the red heifer (Num. 19:6). It was a crimson thread that Rahab was to bind on her window as a sign that she was to be saved alive (Josh. 2:18; 6:25) when the city of Jericho was taken. Vermilion, the red sulphuret of mercury, or cinnabar; a colour used for drawing the figures of idols on the walls of temples (Ezek. 23:14), or for decorating the walls and beams of houses (Jer. 22:14).

In addition to the idiom beginning with
color

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  • Colouring

    [kuhl-er] /ˈkʌl ər/ noun, adjective, verb (used with or without object), Chiefly British. 1. . [kuhl-er] /ˈkʌl ər/ noun 1. the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue. 2. the […]


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