lily-white

[adj. lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt; n. lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt]

lil·y-white

[adj. lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt; n. lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt]
adjective
1.
white as a lily: soft lily-white skin.
2.
pure; untouched by corruption or imperfection; above reproach: He tries to pass himself off as some sort of lily-white saint, but he's not.
3.
designating or pertaining to any faction, organization, or group opposing the inclusion of blacks, especially in political or social life.
noun
4.
a member of a lily-white organization, especially a member of a former faction of the Republican party in the South opposed to the inclusion of blacks in the party or in political life in general.

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Lily-white is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English lylie-whyt


3. segregated, discriminatory, unintegrated.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To lily-white
Collins
World English Dictionary
lily-white
 
adj
1.  of a pure white: lily-white skin
2.  informal pure; irreproachable
3.  informal (US)
 a.  discriminating against Black people: a lily-white club
 b.  racially segregated

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT