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, esp. 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,
a.
any distinctive color or combination or pattern of colors, esp. of a badge, ribbon, uniform, or the like, worn or displayed as a symbol of or to identify allegiance to, membership in, or sponsorship by a school, group, or organization.
b.
nature, viewpoint, or attitude; character; personality: His behavior in a crisis revealed his true colors.
c.
a flag, ensign, etc., particularly the national flag.
d.
U.S. Navy. the ceremony of hoisting the national flag at 8 a.m. and of lowering it at sunset.
10.
skin complexion of a particular people or race, esp. when other than white: a man 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.
a trace or particle of valuable mineral, esp. 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 quantum chromodynamics, quark model.
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,
a.
to blush as from embarrassment.
b.
to turn pale, as from fear: When he saw the size of his opponent, he changed color.
That aspect of things that is caused by differing qualities of the light reflected or emitted by them, definable in terms of the observer or of the light, as:
The appearance of objects or light sources described in terms of the individual's perception of them, involving hue, lightness, and saturation for objects and hue, brightness, and saturation for light sources.
The characteristics of light by which the individual is made aware of objects or light sources through the receptors of the eye, described in terms of dominant wavelength, luminance, and purity.
The general appearance of the skin; complexion.
A ruddy complexion.
A reddening of the face; a blush.
Outward appearance, often deceptive: a tale with the merest color of truth.
Appearance of authenticity: testimony that lends color to an otherwise absurd notion.
Variety of expression.
Vivid, picturesque detail: a story with a lot of color in it.
A substance, such as a dye, pigment, or paint, that imparts a hue.
The general appearance of the skin; complexion.
A ruddy complexion.
A reddening of the face; a blush.
Outward appearance, often deceptive: a tale with the merest color of truth.
Appearance of authenticity: testimony that lends color to an otherwise absurd notion.
Variety of expression.
Vivid, picturesque detail: a story with a lot of color in it.
The skin pigmentation of a person not categorized as white.
colors A flag or banner, as of a country or military unit.
colors The salute made during the ceremony of raising or lowering a flag.
colors A distinguishing symbol, badge, ribbon, or mark: the colors of a college.
colors One's opinion or position: Stick to your colors.
Character or nature. Often used in the plural: revealed their true colors.
Outward appearance, often deceptive: a tale with the merest color of truth.
Appearance of authenticity: testimony that lends color to an otherwise absurd notion.
Variety of expression.
Vivid, picturesque detail: a story with a lot of color in it.
Variety of expression.
Vivid, picturesque detail: a story with a lot of color in it.
Traits of personality or behavior that attract interest.
The use or effect of pigment in painting, as distinct from form.
Music Quality of tone or timbre.
Law A mere semblance of legal right.
A particle or bit of gold found in auriferous gravel or sand.
Physics A quantum characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction.
v.
col·ored, col·or·ing, col·ors
v.
tr.
To impart color to or change the color of.
To give a distinctive character or quality to; modify. See Synonyms at bias.
To exert an influence on; affect: The war colored the soldier's life.
To misrepresent, especially by distortion or exaggeration: color the facts.
To gloss over; excuse: a parent who colored the children's lies.
To misrepresent, especially by distortion or exaggeration: color the facts.
To gloss over; excuse: a parent who colored the children's lies.
v.
intr.
To take on color.
To change color.
To become red in the face; blush.
[Middle English colour, from Old French, from Latin color; see kel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
col'or·er n.
Usage Note: Dissatisfaction with the implications of nonwhite as a racial label has doubtless contributed to the recent popularity of the term person of color and others, such as woman of color, with the same construction. In effect, person of color stands nonwhite on its head, substituting a positive for a negative. It is interesting that the almost exclusive association in American English of colored with Black does not carry over to terms formed with "of color," which are used inclusively of most groups other than those of European origin. See Usage Notes at colored, nonwhite.
c.1225, from O.Fr. colur, from L. color (acc. colorem) "color, hue," from Old L. colos, orig. "a covering" (akin to celare "to hide, conceal"), from PIE base *kel- "to cover, conceal" (see cell). O.E. words for "color" were hiw, bleo. The verb is from c.1300, earliest use is figurative. Colorful "interesting" is from 1889. Color-blind first recorded 1844. Colors "flag of a regiment or ship" is from 1590. Colored in reference to "non-white skin" dates from 1611. Coloring book is from 1931.
having or capable of producing colors; "color film"; "he rented a color television"; "marvelous color illustrations" [ant: black-and-white]
noun
1.
a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect; "a white color is made up of many different wavelengths of light" [ant: achromaticity]
2.
interest and variety and intensity; "the Puritan Period was lacking in color"; "the characters were delineated with exceptional vividness"
3.
the timbre of a musical sound; "the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music"
4.
a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks)
5.
an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading; "he hoped his claims would have a semblance of authenticity"; "he tried to give his falsehood the gloss of moral sanction"; "the situation soon took on a different color" [syn: semblance]
6.
any material used for its color; "she used a different color for the trim" [syn: coloring material]
7.
(physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction; "each flavor of quarks comes in three colors"
8.
the appearance of objects (or light sources) described in terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or brightness) and saturation
verb
1.
add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" [ant: discolor]
2.
affect as in thought or feeling; "My personal feelings color my judgment in this case"; "The sadness tinged his life" [syn: tinge]
3.
modify or bias; "His political ideas color his lectures"
4.
decorate with colors; "color the walls with paint in warm tones"
5.
give a deceptive explanation or excuse for; "color a lie"
6.
change color, often in an undesired manner; "The shirts discolored" [syn: discolor]
The sensation produced by the effect of light waves striking the retina of the eye. The color of something depends mainly on which wavelengths of light it emits, reflects, or transmits.
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.
Col"or\, n. [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. Note: 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. --Shak. 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 color for his death. --Shak. 6. Shade or variety of character; kind; species. Boys and women are for the most part cattle of this color. --Shak. 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. Note: 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 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\, v. 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 prejudices. He colors the falsehood of [AE]neas by an express command from Jupiter to forsake the queen. --Dryden. 3. To hide. [Obs.] That by his fellowship he color might Both his estate and love from skill of any wight. --Spenser.
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