# black

Pronunciation: say "BLAK" /blæk/

## Adjective

1. Of the very darkest color, like coal or soot, absorbing nearly all light; used of objects, hair, fur, clothing, and darker kinds of plants and animals (black poplar, black bear).
   - Simple: Of the darkest color, like coal or the night sky.
   - _The limousine's black paint gleamed under the streetlights._
   - _Crows are black from beak to tail._
2. Belonging to or descended from peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, who typically have dark skin; in some countries also used of other dark-skinned peoples such as Aboriginal Australians. Often capitalized.
   - Simple: Having family from Africa south of the Sahara, or in some countries from other dark-skinned groups, such as Aboriginal Australians.
   - _The museum's new wing documents black history in the American South._
   - _Britain's black communities trace their roots largely to West Africa and the Caribbean._
9. Of coffee or a similar drink, served with no milk, cream, or creamer added.
   - Simple: With no milk, cream, or creamer added to it.
   - _She takes her coffee black, no sugar either._
   - _The diner served the coffee black unless you asked for cream._
5. Illegitimate, illegal, or disgraced; operating outside lawful or official channels.
   - Simple: Against the law or not allowed, or seen as shameful.
   - _Smugglers moved the goods through a black economy that thrived under sanctions._
   - _During the war, families paid high prices for extra sugar and butter on the black market._
6. Entirely without light; completely dark.
   - Simple: Completely dark because there is no light at all.
   - _The cave was utterly black beyond the reach of our flashlights._
   - _A black, starless sky hung over the desert._
7. Of comedy or humor: treating death and other dark, unsettling, or morbid matters as material for laughs.
   - Simple: Making jokes about death or other sad, frightening or unpleasant subjects.
   - _His war memoir is full of black humor about the men who never came home._
   - _Critics called the play a pitch-black comedy, and the audience laughed at every murder._
12. Bad or evil; ill-omened or marked by misfortune.
   - Simple: Very bad or evil, or bringing bad luck.
   - _Historians remember it as one of the blackest chapters in the nation's history._
   - _The villagers took the eclipse as a black omen._
13. Relating to the set of board-game pieces designated as 'black' (in chess, the set used by the player who moves second) regardless of the pieces' actual color.
   - Simple: Belonging to the set of pieces called black in a game like chess, whatever their real color.
   - _After castling, his black king sat safely in the corner._
   - _The black checkers in the travel set are molded in dark blue plastic._
15. Of a political, military, or intelligence operation or site: covert, with its very existence or its details hidden from the public.
   - Simple: Kept secret by a government or army, so the public does not know about it.
   - _The agency ran a black site where detainees were held without public record._
   - _Funding for the black program never appeared in the published budget._
16. Under racial segregation, designated for the exclusive use of Black people, as with separate schools, rail cars, and waiting rooms.
   - Simple: In the past, when laws kept races apart, set aside for Black people only.
   - _Under segregation, the courthouse's black entrance was around the back._
   - _Under Jim Crow, she taught for thirty years at the town's only black high school._
17. Relating to the occult, especially to magic or secret knowledge used for evil or harmful ends, as in black magic and the black arts.
   - Simple: Connected with magic or secret knowledge, especially the kind used to hurt people or do evil.
   - _Legends claimed the alchemist practiced black arts learned in distant lands._
   - _The grimoire promised to reveal the secrets of the black arts._
18. Full of menace or resentment; sullen and threatening.
   - Simple: Angry or making people feel that something bad will happen.
   - _The foreman's black scowl silenced the room._
   - _He sank into a black temper that lasted for days._
20. Foul or dirty; soiled, as with grime or soot.
   - Simple: Very dirty, as if covered in dirt or smoke.
   - _The miners came up from the shaft with faces black from coal dust._
   - _Years of smoke had left the chimney bricks black with soot._
21. Of a playing card, belonging to the suit of spades or clubs.
   - Simple: Belonging to the spades or clubs in a deck of cards.
   - _With no red cards left, she had to throw a black one when diamonds were led._
   - _He sorted the deck into red and black suits before dealing._
23. Of a printed symbol or character, solid and filled in with color rather than drawn as an outline.
   - Simple: Filled in with solid color, not just drawn as an outline.
   - _In the key, a black circle means the stop is staffed, and an outlined circle means it is not._
   - _The proofreader changed the open bullets to black ones for the final layout._

## Noun

3. The color perceived in the absence of light, or when light is absorbed rather than reflected.
   - Simple: The darkest color, like the color of coal or a night sky without stars.
   - _The designer used black to make the gold lettering stand out._
   - _In many Western cultures, mourners traditionally wear black._
4. A member or descendant of any of various dark-skinned ethnic groups, such as African or Aboriginal peoples; as a bare noun, now widely considered offensive.
   - Simple: An often insulting word for a person whose family comes from Africa or another group with dark skin.
   - _In the 1950s letter, the town's mayor complained that 'a black' had been served at the lunch counter, wording that shocks readers today._
   - _The pamphlet demanded equal wages for blacks and whites alike._
8. An object that is black, or the part or area of something that is black.
   - Simple: A thing, or a part of a thing, that has a black color.
   - _Once the pencils were done, the inker filled in all the blacks._
   - _The electrician tied the black to the switch and capped the white wire._
10. Dye, paint, ink or pigment of the darkest color, or a pen, pencil or crayon that draws in that color.
   - Simple: Paint, ink or color that is black, or a pen or crayon that draws in black.
   - _Medieval scribes made their black from oak galls and iron salts._
   - _The shadows in the painting were built up with layer after layer of black._
14. The player commanding the black set of pieces; in chess, the one who moves second.
   - Simple: The player who uses the black pieces in a game like chess.
   - _White opened with a pawn to e4, and Black replied symmetrically._
   - _With a minute left on his clock, Black blundered his queen and resigned._
19. The condition of belonging to or being descended from one of the various ethnic groups, such as African or Aboriginal peoples, whose members typically have dark skin. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The fact of belonging to a group of people with dark skin, such as people from Africa.
   - _His essays explore Black as both heritage and lived experience._
   - _The poster in the dorm hallway read "Black is joy, Black is power, Black is history."_
22. The ball colored black, used in pool, snooker, and similar games.
   - Simple: The ball that is colored black in pool or snooker.
   - _She left the black hanging over the corner pocket._
   - _In snooker, the black is worth seven points._
25. Syrup or crème de cassis made from blackcurrants, when used as a cocktail ingredient. *(colloquial, UK)*
   - Simple: Blackcurrant syrup, or a blackcurrant drink with alcohol, that is mixed into cocktails.
   - _He ordered a snakebite and black at the bar, and it came out a deep purple._
   - _My uncle still takes his Guinness with a drop of black, though the barman always raises an eyebrow._

## Verb

11. To make something black or very dark, as by coloring, polishing, or covering it with soot.
   - Simple: To make something black, often with polish, paint, or smoke.
   - _He used stove polish to black the new iron hinges so they would match the old door._
   - _Every Sunday night my grandfather sat on the back step and blacked his work boots with a tin of polish._
24. To boycott goods, a firm, or a workplace, usually as part of an industrial dispute. *(British)*
   - Simple: To refuse to handle or work with goods or a business during a worker dispute.
   - _Dockers in Liverpool blacked the cargo for a fortnight._
   - _The union threatened to black any haulier that crossed the picket line._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Relating to or associated with anarchism; anarchist.
- (noun) Lengths of black cloth hung up at funerals.
- (noun) Marijuana.
- (adjective) Crowded with far too many people.
- (adjective) Supporting or belonging to Germany's CDU, the Christian Democrats, after the party's traditional color.
- (adjective) In Ireland, Protestant, often with a suggestion of fierce loyalty to Britain or hostility to Catholics.
- (adjective) In a gloomy, sour mood, cross and unhappy.
- (noun) In baseball, home plate's outer edge, often said of a pitch that just clips it.
- (noun) Short for blackcurrant, the small dark berry, or its flavor.
- (noun) A dark mark or blemish on something.
- (noun) A fungus that damages wheat and forms masses of dark, powdery spores.
- (verb) To coat something, such as boots or a stove, with black polish.

## Origin

From Middle English blak, from Old English blæc ("black, dark," also "ink"), from Proto-Germanic *blakaz ("burnt"), possibly from a Proto-Indo-European root *bʰleg- ("to burn, shine"). Compare Latin flagrāre ("to burn") and Ancient Greek phlóx ("flame").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/black (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).