BLACK

Definitions

1. 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. Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night. Shak.
2. 2. A black pigment or dye.
3. 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.
4. 4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black; pl. (Obs.)
5. 5. Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery. Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like show death terrible. Bacon. That was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers. Sir T. North.
6. 6. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. The black or sight of the eye. Sir K. Digby.
7. 7. A stain; a spot; a smooch. Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust. Rowley. 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.