white

adjective

1》 of the colour of milk or fresh snow, due to the reflection of all visible rays of light.

    ↘very pale.

    ↘Brit. (of coffee or tea) served with milk.

    ↘(of food such as bread or rice) light in colour through having been refined.

2》 relating to or denoting a human group having light-coloured skin, especially of European ancestry.

3》 morally or spiritually pure.

4》 (of wine) made from white grapes, or dark grapes with the skins removed, and having a yellowish colour.

5》 (White) historical counter-revolutionary or reactionary.

noun

1》 white colour or pigment.

    ↘(also whites) white clothes or material.

    ↘(White) the player of the white pieces in chess or draughts.

2》 the visible pale part of the eyeball around the iris.

3》 the outer part (white when cooked) which surrounds the yolk of an egg; the albumen.

4》 a member of a light-skinned people.

5》 a white or cream butterfly. [Pieris brassicae (large white), P. rapae (small white, both crop pests), and other species.]

verb

1》 (usu. white something out) turn (something) white.

    ↘obliterate (a mistake) with white correction fluid.

2》 (white out) lose colour vision as a prelude to losing consciousness.

Phrases

bleed someone/thing white drain of wealth or resources.

whited sepulchre literary a hypocrite. [with biblical allusion to Matt 23:27.]

Derivatives

whitely adverb

whiten verb

whitener noun

whiteness noun

whitish adjective

Origin

OE hwīt, of Gmc origin; related to wheat.

Usage

White has been used to refer to the skin colour of Europeans or their descendants since the early 17th century. Although white has not been used in a derogatory way (unlike, for example, red), there is a growing tendency to use terms which relate to geographical origin rather than skin colour: hence the currently preferred term in the US is European.