purples

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of purple. Use it when you mean more than one shade of this color.

   The artist mixed several purples to paint the evening sky.

   These two purples look almost the same to me.

   Note
2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of purple. Use it with he, she, or it.

   The dye purples the fabric within a few minutes.

   Cold weather purples her cheeks every winter.

   Note
3. 3
   noununcountable

   A condition where small purple spots appear on the skin from bleeding underneath.

   Like tiny bruises that show up on the skin without anyone being hit.

   The doctor said the dark spots on his legs were purples.

   Children with purples may bruise very easily.

   Similarpurpura

   Note
4. 4
   nouncountable

   A wild orchid with purple flowers that blooms early in spring.

   Every spring the hillside fills with purples.

   We found a cluster of purples growing near the stream.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   A serious disease in pigs that spreads quickly and often kills them.

   Like a flu that races through a crowd, but in pigs and far more deadly.

   The whole herd was lost to purples that summer.

   Farmers feared purples more than any other pig disease.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   A wheat disease that turns the grain into small hard lumps instead of seeds.

   The farmer's wheat was ruined by purples that year.

   Purples left hard little lumps where the grain should have been.

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