White /(hwīt)/

White

a.
  1. 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.
    White as the whitest lily on a stream.
  2. Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear.
    Or whispering with white lips, “The foe! They come! they come!”
  3. Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure.
    White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear.
    No whiter page than Addison's remains.
  4. Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary.
    Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head So old and white as this.
  5. Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable.
    On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life.
  6. Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling.
    Come forth, my white spouse.
    I am his white boy, and will not be gullet.
    Driving their cattle continually with them, and feeding only upon their milk and white meats.
    A pistol charged with white powder.

White

n.
  1. The color of pure snow; one of the natural colors of bodies, yet not strictly a color, but a composition of all colors; the opposite of black; whiteness. See the Note under Color, n., 1.
    Finely attired in a of white.
  2. Something having the color of snow; something white, or nearly so; as, the white of the eye.
  3. Specifically, the central part of the butt in archery, which was formerly painted white; the center of a mark at which a missile is shot.
    'T was I won the wager, though you hit the white.
  4. A person with a white skin; a member of the white, or Caucasian, races of men.
  5. A white pigment; as, Venice white.
  6. Any one of numerous species of butterflies belonging to Pieris, and allied genera in which the color is usually white. See Cabbage butterfly, under Cabbage. (Zool.)

Phrases & Compounds

Black and white
See under Black.
Flake white
See under Flack, Paris, etc.
White of a seed
the albumen. See Albumen, 2.
White of egg
the viscous pellucid fluid which surrounds the yolk in an egg, particularly in the egg of a fowl. In a hen's egg it is alkaline, and contains about 86 per cent of water and 14 per cent of solid matter, the greater portion of which is egg albumin. It likewise contains a small amount of globulin, and traces of fats and sugar, with some inorganic matter. Heated above 60° C. it coagulates to a solid mass, owing to the albumin which it contains.
White of the eye
the white part of the ball of the eye surrounding the transparent cornea.

White

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Whited; p. pr. & vb. n. Whiting

  1. To make white; to whiten; to whitewash; to bleach.
    Whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of . . . uncleanness.
    — Matt. xxiii. 27.
    So as no fuller on earth can white them.