# blacks

Pronunciation: say "BLAKS" /blæks/

## Noun

1. Plural of black. — plural of black
   - Simple: Plural of black. Use this form when you mean more than one black.
   - _The artist mixed three different blacks to deepen the shadows._
   - _Under the gallery lights, these two blacks look almost identical._
3. Garments that are black, especially those worn as a sign of mourning.
   - Simple: Black clothes worn especially at a funeral or while in mourning.
   - _The widow kept to her blacks for a full year after the burial._
   - _Stagehands move through the wings in their blacks so the audience never sees them._
4. A type of ink used in copperplate printing, made from the charred husks of grapes and the residue left by the wine press.
   - Simple: A printing ink made from burnt grape skins and the leftover material from pressing wine.
   - _The printer ground his blacks to a fine paste before pulling the first proof._
   - _The richest blacks came from husks that had been charred slowly over a low fire._

## Verb

2. Third-person singular simple present of black. — third-person singular simple present indicative of black
   - Simple: Third-person singular present tense of black. Use this form for he, she, or it in the present.
   - _The cobbler blacks each pair of shoes before returning them to the customer._
   - _She blacks the iron grate every Saturday so it never rusts._

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