Word of the Day: Black

black  /   blak

 

adjective

 

1. lacking color or hue, as the result of absorbing all light and reflecting none, the opposite of white

A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.

Groucho Marx 1895-1977

 

2. having very little or no light

Living is strife and torment, disappointment and love and sacrifice, golden sunsets and black storms.

Sir Laurence Olivier, 1907 -1989

 

3. very dark in color

From the black earth there grows the finest grain. 

Yiddish Proverb

 

4. also Black, pertaining to or having dark skin, especially people of African or Australian Aboriginal descent

Black children need to see their lives reflected in the books they read.

Valerie Wilson Wesley, 1947 –

 

5. of coffee or tea, without cream or milk

Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh. 1906 – 2001

 

6. dirty, soiled

A malicious man is like a coal sack — black on the outside and even blacker inside. 

Spanish Proverb

 

7. gloomy, depressing, hopeless

I need distraction from anxious, black thoughts.

Brigette Bardot, 1934 –

 

8. wicked or evil

Let guilty men remember, their black deeds

Do lean on crutches made of slender reeds.

John Webster, c 1580 – c 1634

 

9. pertaining to the supernatural and particularly the devil

That old black magic has me in its spell,

That old black magic that you weave so well;

Icy fingers up and down my spine,

The same old witchcraft when your eyes meet mine.

Lyrics from “That Old Black Magic” by Johnny Mercer, 1909 – 1976

 

1. characterized by morbid or grim satire

When you see a culture where the intellectual architects of the invasion are not shamed for their behavior but rewarded within the mainstream media culture, black comedy, satire, absurdism is the only response.  John Cusack, 1966 –

 

1. indicating anger or resentment; hostile

Latent in every man is a venom of amazing bitterness, a black resentment; something that curses and loathes life, a feeling of being trapped, of having trusted and been fooled, of being helpless prey to impotent rage, blind surrender, the victim of a savage, ruthless power that gives and takes away, enlists a man, drops him, promises and betrays, and -crowning injury- inflicts on him the humiliation of feeling sorry for himself.

Paul Valéry,  1871 – 1945

 

2. disastrous

A major boom in real stock prices in the US after Black Tuesday brought them halfway back to 1929 levels by 1930.

“Speculative bubbles don’t just pop – they may deflate and reflate” by Robert J. Shiller, www.theguardian.com. July 19, 2013

 

3. indicating dishonor, disgrace or censure

My sin is the black spot which my bad act makes, seen against the disk of the Sun of Righteousness.  Charles Henry Parkhurst, 1842 – 1933

 

4. illegal

The black market was a way of getting around government controls. 

Milton Friedman, 1912 – 2006

 

5. dressed in black or very dark clothing or armor

The black knight is a literary stock character who masks their identity and that of their liege by not displaying heraldry. 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Knights

 

6. secret, covert

In actual fact, the radio station, called Radio Swan, was a Central Intelligence Agency covert, black operation, known in intelligence circles as “Black Ops.”

Captain Hank Bracker, ? –

 

 

noun

 

1. the shade opposite of white on a gray scale, that absorbs all light waves and reflects none

In black and white you suggest, in color you state.

Paul Outerbridge, 1896 – 1958

 

2. a dye or pigment that is black in color

The material of typography is the black, and it is the designer’s task with the help of this black to capture space, to create harmonious whites inside the letters as well as between them.

Adrian Frutiger, 1928 – 2015

 

 

3. darkness; an absence of light

And when you find yourself lost in the darkness of despair, remember it’s only in the black of night that you can see the stars, and those stars will lead you back home.

From “One Tree Hill: #1 The Beginning” by Jenny Markas, ? –

 

 

4. also Black, a person having dark skin, especially one of African or Australian Aboriginal descent

A recent poll shows that a majority of blacks, whites, Asians and Hispanics do not think the Census should be classifying people as black, white, Asian and Hispanic.

Thomas Sowell, 1930 –

 

5. something that is colored black

I’m saying that, when properly executed, a kitchen decorated in black and white looks timeless and beautiful. 

Katie Carlson, “How to Decorate Your Kitchen Using Black & White”, Improvenet, June 6, 2016, www.improvenet.com/a/how-to-decorate-your-kitchen-using-black-white

 

6. black colored clothing

If everyone is wearing black, I want to be wearing red.

Maria Sharapova, 1987 –

 

7. game pieces, such as in chess or checkers, that are colored black

It doesn’t require much for misfortune to strike in the King’s Gambit – one incautious move, and Black can be on the edge of the abyss.

Anatoly Karpov, 1951 –

 

8. the condition of making a profit

Last year’s sales were up almost 7% as the company operated in the black once again.

“Lean vs ERP” Doug Bartholomew, Industry Week, December 21, 2004

 

verb

 

1. to be made the color black; blacken

I asked all of our recruiters to give me all resumes of prospective employees with their name, gender, place of origin, and age blacked out. 

Eric Ries, 1978 –

 

2. to polish in order to leave a black color

When someone saw Abraham Lincoln shining his own shoes in his White House office, the onlooker asked, “Mr. President, why are you blacking your own shoes?” Lincoln responded, “Whose shoes would you have me black?” 

Unknown source, http://www.davidvanalstyne.com/pg-lincolnhumor.html