black

(of an object) Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.

Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.

(of a location or setting) Without light.

Somebody tell me, what can I do / Something is holding me back / Is it because I'm black?

1969, “Is It Because I'm Black”, performed by Syl Johnson:

I believed that a huge injustice had been perpetrated for hundreds of years on every black man, woman, and child in the United States.

1971, Lyndon Johnson, The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 39:

I am a young, light-skinned black woman, and truer words were never written of the problem we light-skinned blacks have had to live with. The article explains in-depth what it's like.

The country’s first black president, and its first president to reach adulthood after the Vietnam War and Watergate, Mr. Obama seemed like a digital-age leader who could at last dislodge the stalemate between those who clung to the government of the Great Society, on the one hand, and those who disdained the very idea of government, on the other.

2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times:

(sometimes capitalized) Belonging to or descended from any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc.) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin. (See usage notes below.)

(US, UK, South Africa) Belonging to or descended from any of various sub-Saharan African ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.

black drinking fountain; black hospital

(chiefly historical) Designated for use by those ethnic groups (as described above).

Coordinate term: red (“of the hearts or diamonds suits”)

I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.

(card games, of a card) Of the spades or clubs suits.

black magic

[…] what a black day would that be, when the Ordinances of Jesus Christ should as it were be excommunicated, and cast out of the Church of Christ.

1655, Benjamin Needler, Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis., London: N. Webb and W. Grantham, page 168:

Nor were there wanting some, who, after the departure of Jenny, insinuated that she was spirited away with a design too black to be mentioned, and who gave frequent hints that a legal inquiry ought to be made into the whole matter, and that some people should be forced to produce the girl.

1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:

She had seen so much of the blacker side of human nature that blackness no longer startled her as it should do.

1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

He shot her a black look.

The lassie had grace given her to refuse, but with a woeful heart, and Heriotside rode off in black discontent, leaving poor Ailie to sigh her love. He came back the next day and the next, but aye he got the same answer.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

We see the impression that the perils of these unknown seas made on Minoan art in a clay seal impression that comes from Knossos. A sea monster, with head and jaws like a dog's, is rising from the waves and attacking a boatman who stands defending himself in his skiff. […] This is the black side of the sense of "the magic and the mystery of the sea" that finds a lighter expression in the octopus and sea-shell designs of the vases, and the flying fish on porcelain and frescoes.

1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 14:

Expressing menace or discontent; threatening; sullen.

Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the black market was flourishing.

1952, The Contemporary Review, volume 182, page 338:

(of objects or markets) Illegitimate, illegal, or disgraced.

Then trip him, that his heeles may kicke at Heauen, / And that his Soule may be as damn'd aud blacke / As Hell, whereto it goes.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 270, column 2:

Green’s Dictionary of Slang
w:Green's Dictionary of Slang

Jim drinks his coffee black, but Ellen prefers it with creamer.

(of coffee or tea) Without any cream, milk, or creamer.

The black pieces in this chess set are made of dark blue glass.

(board games, chess) Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess, the set used by the player who moves second) (often regardless of the pieces' actual colour).

Coordinate term: white

Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ (“WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX”); ☛ (“BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX”).

(typography) Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color.

(politics) Of or pertaining to anarchism; anarchist.

Of or pertaining to anarchism; anarchist.

After the election, the parties united in a black-yellow alliance.

(German politics) Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

5 percent of the Defense Department funding will go to black projects.

black operations/black ops; black room; black site

Clandestine; relating to a political, military, or espionage operation or site, the existence or details of which is withheld from the general public.

Pope Joan, who once occupied the throne of the Vatican, was reputed to be the blackest sorcerer of them all.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 105:

But a hel-rúne was one who knew secret black knowledge – and the association of hell with the dead shows that the gloss in O.H.G. 'necromancia' is very close.

2014, J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 168:

Occult; relating to something (such as mystical or magical knowledge) which is unknown to or kept secret from the general public.

the Black North

the Royal Black Institution

There is a district, comprehending Donegal, the interior of the county of Derry, and the western side of Tyrone, which is emphatically called by the people "the Black North," an expression not meant, as I conceive, to mark its greater exposure to the westerly winds, but rather its dreary aspect.

1812, Edward Wakefield, An Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political, volume 2, page 737:

Even in the "black North"—in " Protestant Ulster"—Catholicity is progressing at a rate that must strike terror into its enemies, and impart pride and hope to the professors of the faith of our sainted forefathers.

1841 March 20, "Intelligence; Catholicity in Ulster" Catholic Herald (Bengal), Vol. 2 No. 1, p. 27

To the southern Nationalist the north was chiefly known as the home of the most rabid religious and political intolerance perhaps in the whole Christian world; it was designated by the comprehensive title of the 'Black North.'

1886, Thomas Power O'Connor, The Parnell Movement: With a Sketch of Irish Parties from 1843, page 520:

Now April's brother, once also holding a commission in that regiment, was an Ulster Volunteer, her father a staunch, black Protestant, her family tremulously "loyal" to the country whose Parliament was turning them out of its councils.

1914 May 27, "Review of The North Afire by W. Douglas Newton", The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, volume 86, page t

He [Sir John Henry Biggart] was personally amused at having once been called "a black bastard".

1985 April, J. A. Weaver, “John Henry Biggart 1905-1979 - A portrait in respect and affection”, in Ulster Medical Journal, volume 54, number 1, page 1:

He had been playing Gaelic football for Lisnaskea Emmets, his local team in County Fermanagh, against a team from nearby Brookeborough, when someone from the opposing team called him a ‘black cunt’. ‘Black’, in this case, was a reference not to the colour of his skin but to his religion. It is short for ‘Black Protestant’, a long-standing term of sectarian abuse.

2007 September 6, Fintan O'Toole, “Diary”, in London Review of Books, volume 29, number 17, page 35:

(Ireland, now derogatory) Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic. (Compare blackmouth ("Presbyterian").)

the black knight; black bile

Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc.) that is dark (or black).

black birch; black locust; black rhino

(taxonomy, especially) Dark in comparison to another species with the same base name.

Dark in comparison to another species with the same base name.

They gave up trying to talk to me. Ever since I gave them that big scolding. But every time they see me, all face black black.

2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene x, page 46:

(Singapore, Singlish, of someone's face) Sullen and solemn; bad-tempered and unhappy.

Sullen and solemn; bad-tempered and unhappy.

en-adj

black (comparative blacker or more black, superlative blackest or most black)

blacker (comparative)
more black (comparative)
blackest (superlative)
most black (superlative)
blacke (alternative obsolete)
Black (alternative)
blk (alternative)
blak (alternative)

Bislama: blak

Sranan Tongo: blaka

Aukan: baaka

→ Caribbean Hindustani: blaaka

Tok Pisin: blak

Torres Strait Creole: blaik

→ Dutch: black

→ French: black

→ Greek: μπλάκης (blákis)

زِنْجِيّ

relating to people with dark skin — see also dark-skinned
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neger

historical: designated for use by those with dark skin

sort

of coffee or tea, without milk or other whitener

sort

chess, checkers etc.: color opposing "white"

musta

politics: related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany

formørket

relating to an initiative whose existence or exact nature must remain withheld

From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”) (compare Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”) (compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”)).
Sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).

inh

Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”)

cog

Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”)

inh

Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”)


black

black:

Black is the badge of hell, / The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

(countable and uncountable) The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.

(countable and uncountable) A black dye or pigment.

(countable) A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.

Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.

1625, Francis Bacon, “Of Death”, in Essays:

(in the plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.

"How! They surely cannot pretend that the black is an Englishman?" "There are all kinds of Englishmen, black and white, when seamen grow scarce. […]"

1863, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter XXIV, in Miles Wallingford:

But presently the negro seized the Hindoo by the throat; the Hindoo just pricked him in the arm with his knife, and the next moment his own head was driven against the side of the cabin with a stunning crack[…]The cabin was now full, and Sharpe was for putting both the blacks in irons.

Prize-winning books continue a trend toward increased representation of blacks, accounting for most of the books with exclusively black characters.

2004, Anthony Joseph Paul Cortese, Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising, page 108:

(countable, sometimes capitalised, often offensive) A member of descendant of any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.

black don't crack

(uncountable, informal) Blackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups.

(countable, billiards, snooker, pool) The black ball.

(countable, baseball) The edge of home plate.

(countable, British) A type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.

Pernod and black; snakebite and black; cider and black

(countable, informal) Short for blackcurrant.

(chiefly UK) Blackcurrant as syrup or crème de cassis used for cocktails.

At this point black makes a disastrous move.

(countable, chess) The person playing with the black set of pieces.

the black or sight of the eye

(countable) Something, or a part of a thing, which is black.

defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust

1619, William Rowley, All's Lost by Lust:

He pulled on the black, the tip of the filter hot and malleable between his lips, and felt a cool tingling coat the simmer in his chest and begin to eat away at it in small bites.

2008, Jesmyn Ward, Where the Line Bleeds, Bloomsbury (2018), page 48:

en-noun

black (countable and uncountable, plural blacks)

blacks (plural)
blacke (alternative obsolete)
Black (alternative)
blk (alternative)
blak (alternative)

→ Japanese: ブラック (burakku)

→ Volapük: bläg

sort

chess and similar games: person playing with the black set of pieces

sort

part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black


black

"I don't want to fight; but you are a mean, dirty blackguard, or you wouldn't have treated a girl like that," replied Tommy, standing as stiff as a stake before the bully.
"Say that again, and I'll black your eye for you."

1859, Oliver Optic, Poor and Proud; or, The Fortunes of Katy Redburn, a Story for Young Folks:

Ted, you can black your face, and dye your hair, and squint, and some fine day, sooner or later, somebody'll come along and blab the whole thing.

I saw red, and instead of a cab I fetched that policeman. Of course father did black his eye.

1922, John Galsworthy, A Family Man: In Three Acts:

[…] he must catch, curry, and saddle his own horse; he must black his own brogans (for he will not be able to buy boots).

1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin:

But in a moment he went to Greenidge's bedside, and said, shyly, in a low voice, "Shall I black your boots for you?"

1861, George William Curtis, Trumps: A Novel:

Loving you, I could conceive no life sweeter than hers — to be always near you; to black your boots, carry up your coals, scrub your doorstep; always to be working for you, hard and humbly and without thanks.

(transitive) To apply blacking to (something).

The plants were blacked by the Transport and General Workers' Union and a consumer boycott was organised; both activities contributed to what the union saw as a victory.

2003, Alun Howkins, The Death of Rural England, page 175:

(British, transitive) To boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.

en-verb

black (third-person singular simple present blacks, present participle blacking, simple past and past participle blacked)

blacks (present singular third-person)
blacking (participle present)
blacked (participle past)
blacked (past)
blacke (alternative obsolete)
Black (alternative)
blk (alternative)
blak (alternative)