white

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

Adjective

  1. Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
    • Write in black ink on white paper.
    • white as the whitest lily on a stream. - c. 1878, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Holidays:
    • While some of the more exotic varieties are becoming more popular with nationwide growers, such as the pale pinkish white pineberry, local farms will frequently plant a few different varieties to best suit their region....

    Antonyms: black nonwhite unwhite

  2. Of or relating to Europeans or those of European descent, regardless if their skin has cool or warm undertones.
  3. Of or relating to Caucasians (people with white complexion and European ancestry).
    • […]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...
    • 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...
    • If you're from Africa, why are you white? - 2004, Tina Fey, Mean Girls, spoken by Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried):
  4. By U.S. Census Bureau definition, of or relating to people hailing from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
  5. Designated for use by Caucasians.
    • white drinking fountain
    • white hospital
  6. Relatively light or pale in colour.
    • white wine
    • white grapes
    • white birch
  7. Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
    • 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: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William...
  8. Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.

    Synonyms: fair pale

    Antonyms: tanned

  9. With leucism.
    • Why should the birthplace of the gods in ancient Egyptian times align with the birthplace of the White Lions in our times? - 2010, Linda Tucker, “Gold: Subterranean Sun” (chapter 21), in Mystery of the White Lions:...
  10. Containing cream, milk, or creamer.

    Antonyms: black

  11. The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.
    • The white pieces in this set are in fact made of light green glass.
    • Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks. - 2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, page 21:
  12. Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.
    • a white monk

Origin

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 * Swedish vit * Danish hvid * 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”)

Forms

whiter more white whitest most white whight whyte whyght White

Related

whitebeam whiten whiteness whiteness studies whitish

Derived

angry white male angry white man antimony white antique white anti-white Argentine black and white tegu Bath white Berlin white big white chief big white telephone black and white black-and-white black and white Helen black-and-white ruffed lemur black and white tegu black-and-white television black and white village black and white warbler black-or-white black-veined white blacky-white bleed white blue-and-white blue-white screen

Noun

  1. The color of snow or milk; the color of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
    • 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,...
  2. A person of European descent with light-colored skin.
    • 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...
    • We could have ridden for weeks, possibly months, and never seen a white man had it not been that Laurie was riding from scattered white to white. - 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson,...
    • 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,...

    Synonyms: abelungu ang moh Angrez balanda béké bule cac Caucasian cornstarch crusader cracker cumskin Eurangutan European farang firangi gringo gora gussuk gweilo haole honky hoogie hoojah ice monkey

  3. Any butterfly of the subfamily Pierinae in the family Pieridae.
    • Several other beautiful butterflies rewarded my search in this place [...] The most abundant butterflies were the whites and yellows (Pieridae), several of which I had already found at Lombock and at Coupang, while...
  4. White wine.
    • 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...
  5. White coffee
  6. Ellipsis of white bread

    Hypernyms: bread food

    Coordinate Terms: wheat rye pumpernickel

  7. Any object or substance that is of the color white.

    1. The albumen of bird eggs (egg white).

    2. (anatomy) The sclera, white of the eye.

      • 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...

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

    4. (slang, US, UK) Cocaine.

      • 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,...
      • We was flyin' up O with white, we was buildin' lines, now it's clothing lines - 2024, “Entrapreneur”, performed by Central Cee:

      Synonyms: benzoylmethylecgonine blow Bolivian marching powder booger sugar boots California corn flakes charlie ching coke corinne crystals flake girl hard white marching powder nose beer nose candy nose powder party powder powder rock rocks slim sniff

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

    6. A white pigment.

      • Venice white

    7. A white bean.

      • 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...
  8. The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.
    • '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: […]...
  9. The enclosed part of a letter of the alphabet, especially when handwritten.
    • 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...
    • […] 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:
  10. A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.
    • 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...
    • 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...
    • 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...

    Synonyms: prime

  11. The person playing with the white set of pieces.
    • In this position, white has an opportunity to make a good move.
    • 1...Qd3 2 Ne1 Nd2! wins since 3 Nxd3 Rxf1 mate while 3 Qxc7+ Kg6 only delays the end. The best White can do is 3 Qc3+ Qxc3 4 Rxc3 Rxe1 when Black also wins the Bf1 and will be two pieces up. - 2023 January 13, Leonard...

Forms

whites whight whyte whyght White

Synonyms

bright chalky flashy frosted light milky pale pearly shiny silvery snowy white

Hypernyms

color shade

Related

red orange yellow green blue violet

Derived

egg white flake white flat white nonwhite non-white off-white offwhite titanium white wapanese whiteless wigger

Verb

  1. To make white; to whiten; to bleach.
    • 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,...
    • 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,...

Forms

whites whiting whited whight whyte whyght White

Related

blanco leucite leukoma leukosis Sauvignon blanc Svetambara terra alba

Derived

white out