white

Write in black ink on white paper.

white as the whitest lily on a stream.

c. 1878, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Holidays:

Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.

(sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to Europeans or those of European descent, regardless if their skin has cool or warm undertones.

[…]more white corporations cognizant of the mounting purchasing power of the Negro consumer, have Negro representatives in the field[…].

1949, Wendell P. Alston, “The Green Book”, in The Negro Motorist Green Book, New York: Victor H. Green, published 1949, page 3:

Ms. Ringwald finds a few things about these films regrettable. One thing she found "significantly disturbing," she wrote, "was how white the films are."

2004 May 9, Michael Joseph Gross, “When the Losers Ruled in Teenage Movies”, in New York Times:

(sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to Caucasians (people with white complexion and European ancestry).

(sometimes capitalized) By U.S. Census Bureau definition, of or relating to people hailing from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

white drinking fountain

white hospital

(chiefly historical) Designated for use by Caucasians.

white wine

white grapes

white birch

Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! / They come! they come!"

1812–1818, Lord Byron, “(please specify |canto=I to IV)”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.

(of a person or skin) Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.

(of coffee or tea) Containing cream, milk, or creamer.

The white pieces in this set are in fact made of light green glass.

(board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.

a white monk

Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.

White as thy fame, and as thy honour clear.

1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Second Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

'The preacher had not proceeded far in his sermon,' said the man, ' before I thought him the whitest man I ever saw. My hat was instantly taken off and thrown under the seat, and I found myself listening with the most profound attention.'

1837, M. Huxley, in Timothy Mather Cooley, Sketches of the life and character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes, A. M., for many years pastor of a church in Rutland, Vt., and late in Granville, New-York, page 73

... the parson, […

1867, Mark Twain, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches, George Routledge and Sons, page 36:

... Rayner seems powerful anxious to get you on the paper. A good fellow is Rayner; as white a man as I ever knew; and he has as many old friends as would make a good-sized city.

1877, Walter Besant, James Rice, The Golden Butterfly, page 218:

"So I'm here to say I'm sorry." Another big gulp.
Troop heaved himself slowly off the locker he was sitting on and held out an eleven-inch hand. "I mistrusted 'twould do you sights o' good; an' this shows I weren't mistook in my jedgments^([sic])."
"You're white," said Dan, as Harvey regained the deck, flushed to the tips of his ears.

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

No whiter page than Addison's remains. / He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth, / And sets the passions on the side of Truth,

1737, Alexander Pope, First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 194:

“I’ll put you down at my club; and then, the governor will want to see you in the country.” / Jim had no idea of what was involved in being put down at a club, but he consented. “That ’s mighty white of you, old man, but I don’t know where I shall make down.”

1901, Hamlin Garland, Her Mountain Lover, page 51:

"I meant to act white by you," he answered.

1913, Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country, Penguin, →ISBN, page 155:

He's a fine fellow, this Gabriel Stanton, a white man all through

‘We've only met twice and you've been more than white to me both times.’

1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin, published 2010, page 12:

Even decency has been regarded as a white or Christian attribute, as is evidenced by the expression "that's very white of you"

1976, United Church of Christ, A.D., number 1, page 34:

(now less common and often offensive) Honourable, fair, decent, kind; generous.

Honourable, fair, decent, kind; generous.

Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head / So old and white as this.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.

On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life.

1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

(archaic) Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.

I am his white boy, and will not be gulled.

c. 1626, John Ford, Tis Pity She's a Whore:

(obsolete) Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.

Aimée de Coigny had always adopted with enthusiasm the political views of her ruling lover and she had thus already held nearly every shade of opinion from red republicanism to white reaction.

1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 163:

(politics) Pertaining to constitutional or anti-revolutionary political parties or movements.

Most often consisting of a budset pluck, a frost tea has the clarity and freshness of a white tea, with the richness and lingering finish of a finely crafted black tea.

2012, Mary Lou Heiss, Robert J. Heiss, The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook, →ISBN:

(of tea) Made from immature leaves and shoots.

(typography) Not containing characters; see white space.

Not containing characters; see white space.

Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; ☛ = "BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX"

(typography) Said of a symbol or character outline, not solid, not filled with color. Compare black (“said of a character or symbol filled with color”).

a white Christmas

a white Easter

For instance, tyro jousters in fifteenth-century Iberia wore “white armor,” while experienced men wore surcoats over their harness (Fallows 2010, 80), while fabric-covered breastplates are depicted in many examples of fifteenth-century northern European art.

2015 August 31, Albrecht Classen, Handbook of Medieval Culture, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, →ISBN:

(of a set of armor) Alwhite, pertaining to white armor.

en-adj

white (comparative whiter or more white, superlative whitest or most white)

whiter (comparative)
more white (comparative)
whitest (superlative)
most white (superlative)
whight (alternative obsolete)
whyte (alternative obsolete)
whyght (alternative obsolete)
White (alternative)

Bislama: waet

Sranan Tongo: weti

Aukan: weti

Saramaccan: wéti

Tok Pisin: wait

→ Japanese: ホワイト (howaito)

white fella

⇒ Nyunga: wadjela

white gin

⇒ Gamilaraay: waatyin

⇒ Ngiyambaa: wadjiin

⇒ Wiradjuri: waajin

hvid

board games: deemed to belong to the white set

rauhallinen

characterized by freedom from that which disturbs

valkoinen

of tea: made from immature leaves and shoots

Inherited from Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”).
Cognates
* West Frisian wyt
*Dutch wit
* German weiß
* German weiss
* Norwegian Bokmål hvit
* Norwegian Nynorsk kvit
* Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”)
* Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”)
* Persian سفید (sefid, “white”), Persian سپید (sepid, “white”)
* Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”)
* Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”).

cog

Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”)


white

Not only were the platforms tiled in white, the tunnels were painted white too - to prettify them, and make them less claustrophobic - and the Central proudly issued a postcard of its tunnel-whitening machine.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 117:

The color of snow or milk; the color of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.

The Indians carried first our canoes and then our stores through the brushwood, which is very thick at this point, while we four whites, our rifles on our shoulders, walked between them and any danger coming from the woods.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

The War on Drugs proved popular among key white voters, particularly whites who remained resentful of black progress, civil rights enforcement, and affirmative action.

2012, Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, →ISBN, page 54:

A person of European descent with light-colored skin.

Any butterfly of the subfamily Pierinae in the family Pieridae.

A bottle of red, a bottle of white / It all depends upon your appetite / I'll meet you any time you want / In our Italian Restaurant.

1977, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, in Billy Joel (music), The Stranger:

Those were my first impressions of wine: Ladies drink chilled, soft white while they gossip in the kitchen; old men drink strong, room-temperature red to get shellacked.

2014, Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard:

(countable and uncountable) White coffee

(countable) Any object or substance that is of the color white.

You could see from afar the white of their eyeballs glistening.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 203:

(sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The cue ball in cue games.

I've got to hit the streets; I've got to move this white.

2004, “On The Run”, Kanye West (music), performed by Bump J ft. Rick James, Atlantic:

Ten grand a week we were clearing: base, white, meth, weed, anything. I can get you anything to get you high.

2019 January 20, Ann Cleeves, Paul Matthew Thompson, “Cuckoo” (1:26:51 from the start), in Lawrence Gough, director, Vera, season 9, episode 2 (TV series), spoken by Tyler Lennon (Louis Healy):

We was flyin' up O with white, we was buildin' lines, now it's clothing lines

2024, “Entrapreneur”, performed by Central Cee:

The snow- or ice-covered "green" in snow golf.

Venice white

Nearly two-thirds of the Idaho crop has been great northerns, one-sixth small reds, and the remainder small flat whites and pintos and seed for snap beans and baby limas (table 21).

1952, Columbia River and Tributaries, Northwestern United States, United States Government Printing Office, page 3764:

'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white.

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

(archery) The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.

Also it giueth a great grace to your writing, if the whites of certeine letters bee made of one equall bignesse with the o. supposing the same were all round, as the white of the b. of the a. p. y. v. w. x. q. d. g. and s.

1594, Hugh Plat, chapter 38, in The Jewell House of Art and Nature, London, page 42:

[…] the a. b. d. g. o. p. q. &c. […] must be made with equal whites.

1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, page 18:

She copied the whole alphabet like that, as though only the inside whites of the letters registered on her mind.

1931, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in Police at the Funeral, Penguin, published 1939, page 157:

The enclosed part of a letter of the alphabet, especially when handwritten.

3.—Wing-Quills or Remiges; Whites and Feminas.—The wing-quills are the largest feathers in the wing, and are arranged in a single row. They include the “Whites” in the cock, and the “Feminas” in the hen, as well as the “Byocks” or “Fancies” in the cock.

1909, Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope, page 514:

The usual kinds of ostrich feathers known to the trade come into the Tripoli market. These are whites, blacks, feminas, byocks, spadonas, boos, drabs and floss.

1909 August 12, “Ostrich Feathers of Tripoli”, in Neenah Daily Times, volume 53, number 8,451, Neenah, Wis., Menasha, Wis., column 5:

Whites, primes, pound, $120 to $300[…]The whites and blacks come from the male birds, the feminas and drabs from the female, the spadones are the first clipping taken from the young birds and the tails from each.

1910 October 30, The Arizona Republican, volume XXI, number 161, Phoenix, Ariz., page 9:

This parcel included 286 lbs. of feathers known as whites, and 211 lbs. of feathers known as feminas. The whites are described as lot 12, and the feminas as lot 13.

1923, South African Law Reports. Cape Provincial Division: Decisions of the Supreme Court of South Africa (Cape of Good Hope Provincial Decision)., page 532:

A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.

In this position, white has an opportunity to make a good move.

(board games, chess) The person playing with the white set of pieces.

en-noun

white (countable and uncountable, plural whites)

whites (plural)
whight (alternative obsolete)
whyte (alternative obsolete)
whyght (alternative obsolete)
White (alternative)

bělásek

common name for butterflies in the subfamily Pierinae

valkoinen

short form of white wine — see also white wine

valkoinen

board games: person playing with the white pieces


white

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 23:27:

so as no fuller on earth can white them

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 9:3:

In a very few hours I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:

(transitive) To make white; to whiten; to bleach.

en-verb

white (third-person singular simple present whites, present participle whiting, simple past and past participle whited)

whites (present singular third-person)
whiting (participle present)
whited (participle past)
whited (past)
whight (alternative obsolete)
whyte (alternative obsolete)
whyght (alternative obsolete)
White (alternative)