Black

Black Black, n. 1. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black. [1913 Webster]

Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2. A black pigment or dye. [1913 Webster]

3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain African races. [1913 Webster]

4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black; pl. (Obs.) Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery. [1913 Webster]

Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like show death terrible. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

That was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers. --Sir T. North. [1913 Webster]

5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. [1913 Webster]

The black or sight of the eye. --Sir K. Digby. [1913 Webster]

6. A stain; a spot; a smooch. [1913 Webster]

Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust. --Rowley. [1913 Webster]

{Black and white}, writing or print; as, I must have that statement in black and white.

{Blue black}, a pigment of a blue black color.

{Ivory black}, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing.

{Berlin black}. See under {Berlin}. [1913 Webster]