# colour

Pronunciation: say "KUL-uh" UK /ˈkʌl.ə/, AUS [ˈkʰɐɫ.ɐ]; US say "KUL-er" /ˈkʌl.ɚ/

## Noun

1. The way something looks as a result of the light it gives out or reflects, seen as shades such as red, green or blue; also, any one of these shades.
   - Simple: What makes things look red, green, blue and so on, or one of these shades.
   - _The bathroom is painted a pale colour somewhere between green and grey._
   - _Some languages use a single word for the colours that English calls blue and green._
2. Full colour as opposed to black and white: the quality of showing hues such as red or blue rather than only black, white and greys, especially in a picture, photograph, film or television image.
   - Simple: Having colours such as red or blue, not just black, white and grey, for example in a photo or film.
   - _The winter fog had drained the valley of colour, leaving only greys._
   - _Her early prints are almost all black and white, but her later work is full of colour._
5. A person's skin tone, especially when it is taken as a mark of race or ethnic background.
   - Simple: How light or dark a person's skin is, especially as a sign of their race.
   - _The new policy bans discrimination on grounds of colour, religion or sex._
   - _Questions of colour and class run through the whole novel._
6. A particular colour or combination of colours by which a team, club, school or racehorse owner is known, together with the shirts, silks and other clothing in them.
   - Simple: The special colours that stand for a team, club, school or racehorse owner, and the clothes in them.
   - _The visitors played in their change colours to avoid a clash with the home side's red shirts._
   - _Racing in the owner's famous black and gold colours, the favourite won by three lengths._
7. Any substance, such as a dye or tint, that is applied to something or mixed into it to give it colour, for example on hair or in food.
   - Simple: Something like a dye that you add to things such as hair or food to change their colour.
   - _Her stylist suggested a semi-permanent colour that would wash out after a few weeks._
   - _The company has replaced the artificial colours in its sweets with ones made from beetroot and turmeric._
9. Vividness of expression, or lively detail and flavour that make something, such as writing or a description, more interesting or enjoyable.
   - Simple: Interesting or lively details that make something more fun to read, hear or see.
   - _Her letters home are full of colour, from village gossip to the price of eggs._
   - _The reporter added some local colour by interviewing the landlord of the village pub._
11. A flag that stands for a nation, regiment, team or other group, such as one flown by a ship or carried on a pole by a military unit.
   - Simple: A flag that stands for a country, a ship, a group of soldiers or a team.
   - _The yacht crossed the Channel sailing under Irish colours._
   - _At midnight the new national colours were raised over the parliament building for the first time._
10. The timbre or tone quality of an instrument, voice or ensemble, often considered in terms of orchestration.
   - Simple: The special quality of a sound, like the difference between a violin and a flute playing the same note.
   - _The composer saves the bright colour of the trumpets for the final chorus._
   - _Moving the tune from the violins to the violas gives it a darker colour._
13. The colour of a person's face or skin as a sign of health or feeling, such as a red flush, a healthy ruddy look, or the pallor of illness.
   - Simple: The colour of someone's face, which shows how healthy they are or how they feel, such as red cheeks.
   - _She had a high colour, and her eyes were bright with fever._
   - _The cold wind had whipped some colour into the children's faces._
16. The political side a person, government or newspaper is on: the party they belong to or back, or the views and loyalties they hold.
   - Simple: The side that a person, government or newspaper is on in politics, such as the party they support.
   - _Successive governments, whatever their political colour, have promised to reform social care and then shelved the plans._
   - _When a council of a different political colour took control in May, it scrapped the low-traffic scheme within weeks._
17. In snooker, any ball on the table other than the reds and the white cue ball.
   - Simple: In snooker, any ball that is not one of the reds or the white ball.
   - _Having taken the last red, he needed every colour to win the frame._
   - _He potted a long red and then a difficult colour into the middle pocket._
19. An honour a school or university gives for achievement, especially in sport, often shown by the right to wear a special tie or blazer.
   - Simple: A prize from a school or university for doing well, especially in sport.
   - _He was awarded full colours for rugby after captaining the first fifteen._
   - _At my school, half colours went to anyone who played ten matches for the first team._
20. A pretended reason or false show, such as feigned friendship or concern, put forward to hide someone's real purpose or what is really going on.
   - Simple: A false reason or show that someone uses to hide what they are really doing.
   - _The regime shut down independent newspapers under colour of protecting national security, though its real aim was to silence its critics._
   - _Under colour of friendship, he borrowed thousands from her that he never meant to repay._
21. A seeming legal right or official authority under which something is done.
   - Simple: The look of having a legal right or official power to do something.
   - _The bailiffs seized the furniture under colour of a court order that had already expired._
   - _An official who takes bribes under colour of his office betrays the very authority he claims._
22. The badges, symbols or clothing worn to show that someone belongs to a particular gang.
   - Simple: Special clothes or signs that people wear to show which gang they belong to.
   - _Schools near the estate have banned anything that could be mistaken for gang colours._
   - _Officers noticed that several of the youths were wearing the colours of a rival gang._

## Adjective

3. Showing or producing colour, rather than only black, white and shades of grey.
   - Simple: Showing red, blue and other shades, not just black, white and grey.
   - _The Sunday paper comes with a glossy colour supplement._
   - _The form asks for a recent passport photo, which must be colour, not black and white._

## Verb

4. To make something a particular colour or add colour to it, for instance by dyeing, painting or tinting.
   - Simple: To make something red, blue or another colour, for example with paint or dye.
   - _Cooks sometimes colour the icing with a few drops of beetroot juice._
   - _Waste from the factory had coloured the river a murky brown._
8. To fill in the shapes of a line drawing with colour, using crayons, coloured pencils or felt-tip pens.
   - Simple: To use crayons or coloured pens to fill in the shapes of a picture.
   - _Children in reception class learn to colour without going over the lines._
   - _She finds that colouring in helps her relax after a long shift._
12. To influence something, especially a judgement or view, without altering it entirely.
   - Simple: To have an effect on something, such as the way someone sees things, without changing it completely.
   - _Personal loyalties inevitably colour a manager's judgement of her own team._
   - _His account of the war is coloured by years of bitterness._
14. To gain colour or turn from one colour to another, as food does when it browns in cooking or as leaves do in autumn.
   - Simple: To become a different colour, like food going brown as it cooks or leaves in autumn.
   - _Let the chicken thighs colour on one side before you turn them over._
   - _In a mild year the beeches along the lane are often still colouring well into November._
15. To describe or portray someone or something as having a particular quality; most often in 'colour me' followed by an adjective, a wry way of saying how you feel. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To say what someone or something is like. 'Colour me surprised' is a joking way of saying 'I am surprised'.
   - _The council says the potholes on our road will be fixed by Christmas, but colour me sceptical._
   - _Colour me unconvinced: the club has promised a new stadium every year for a decade._
18. Of a person or their face, to turn red as more blood flows into the skin.
   - Simple: To go red in the face because more blood comes into the skin.
   - _He coloured slightly and looked away when she mentioned the letter._
   - _I could feel my face colour as the whole room turned to look at me._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In the armed forces, the ceremony held each morning at which the flag is hoisted.
- (noun) In heraldry, one of the recognised dark tinctures a coat of arms may be painted in, such as azure (blue), gules (red), sable (black) or vert (green).
- (noun) In linguistics, the characteristic sound quality of a given vowel, which marks it out from other vowels.
- (verb) Usually of a phoneme: to change the quality of another speech sound, especially a vowel.
- (noun) Gold found in the course of prospecting, especially in the form of small particles.
- (noun) In particle physics, a property of quarks and gluons, with three kinds named red, green and blue, that governs the strong force between them; quarks change colour by exchanging gluons. Also called colour charge.
- (verb) In graph theory, to give each vertex of a graph, or each region of a map, a colour so that no two adjacent vertices or bordering regions share one.

## Origin

From Middle English colour or color, borrowed from Anglo-Norman colur, from Old French colour, from Latin color; it is a doublet of couleur. It displaced the older English word blee (from Old English blēo, 'colour') and partly replaced Old English hīew and its descendant hue, which is now less often used in this sense. The spelling color was popularised in modern American English by Noah Webster, to match the Latin original and make related words such as coloration and colorless consistent.

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