From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
color
adj 1: having or capable of producing colors; "color film"; "he
rented a color television"; "marvelous color
illustrations" [syn: color, colour] [ant: {black and
white(p)}, black-and-white]
n 1: a visual attribute of things that results from the light
they emit or transmit or reflect; "a white color is made up
of many different wavelengths of light" [syn: color,
colour, coloring, colouring] [ant: achromaticity,
achromatism, colorlessness, colourlessness]
2: interest and variety and intensity; "the Puritan Period was
lacking in color"; "the characters were delineated with
exceptional vividness" [syn: color, colour, vividness]
3: the timbre of a musical sound; "the recording fails to
capture the true color of the original music" [syn: color,
colour, coloration, colouration]
4: a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race
(especially Blacks) [syn: color, colour, {people of
color}, people of colour]
5: an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately
misleading; "he hoped his claims would have a semblance of
authenticity"; "he tried to give his falsehood the gloss of
moral sanction"; "the situation soon took on a different
color" [syn: semblance, gloss, color, colour]
6: any material used for its color; "she used a different color
for the trim" [syn: coloring material, {colouring
material}, color, colour]
7: (physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their
role in the strong interaction; "each flavor of quarks comes
in three colors" [syn: color, colour]
8: the appearance of objects (or light sources) described in
terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or
brightness) and saturation [syn: color, colour]
v 1: add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall
colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" [syn:
color, colorize, colorise, colourise, colourize,
colour, color in, colour in] [ant: discolor]
2: affect as in thought or feeling; "My personal feelings color
my judgment in this case"; "The sadness tinged his life"
[syn: tinge, color, colour, distort]
3: modify or bias; "His political ideas color his lectures"
[syn: color, colour]
4: decorate with colors; "color the walls with paint in warm
tones" [syn: color, colour, emblazon]
5: give a deceptive explanation or excuse for; "color a lie"
[syn: color, colour, gloss]
6: change color, often in an undesired manner; "The shirts
discolored" [syn: discolor, discolour, colour, color]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Color \Col"or\ (k[u^]l"[~e]r), n. [Written also colour.] [OF.
color, colur, colour, F. couleur, L. color; prob. akin to
celare to conceal (the color taken as that which covers). See
Helmet.]
1. A property depending on the relations of light to the eye,
by which individual and specific differences in the hues
and tints of objects are apprehended in vision; as, gay
colors; sad colors, etc.
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Note: The sensation of color depends upon a peculiar function
of the retina or optic nerve, in consequence of which
rays of light produce different effects according to
the length of their waves or undulations, waves of a
certain length producing the sensation of red, shorter
waves green, and those still shorter blue, etc. White,
or ordinary, light consists of waves of various lengths
so blended as to produce no effect of color, and the
color of objects depends upon their power to absorb or
reflect a greater or less proportion of the rays which
fall upon them.
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2. Any hue distinguished from white or black.
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3. The hue or color characteristic of good health and
spirits; ruddy complexion.
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Give color to my pale cheek. --Shak.
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4. That which is used to give color; a paint; a pigment; as,
oil colors or water colors.
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5. That which covers or hides the real character of anything;
semblance; excuse; disguise; appearance.
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They had let down the boat into the sea, under color
as though they would have cast anchors out of the
foreship. --Acts xxvii.
30.
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That he should die is worthy policy;
But yet we want a color for his death. --Shak.
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6. Shade or variety of character; kind; species.
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Boys and women are for the most part cattle of this
color. --Shak.
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7. A distinguishing badge, as a flag or similar symbol
(usually in the plural); as, the colors or color of a ship
or regiment; the colors of a race horse (that is, of the
cap and jacket worn by the jockey).
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In the United States each regiment of infantry and
artillery has two colors, one national and one
regimental. --Farrow.
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8. (Law) An apparent right; as where the defendant in
trespass gave to the plaintiff an appearance of title, by
stating his title specially, thus removing the cause from
the jury to the court. --Blackstone.
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Note: Color is express when it is averred in the pleading,
and implied when it is implied in the pleading.
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Body color. See under Body.
Color blindness, total or partial inability to distinguish
or recognize colors. See Daltonism.
Complementary color, one of two colors so related to each
other that when blended together they produce white light;
-- so called because each color makes up to the other what
it lacks to make it white. Artificial or pigment colors,
when mixed, produce effects differing from those of the
primary colors, in consequence of partial absorption.
Of color (as persons, races, etc.), not of the white race;
-- commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro
blood, pure or mixed.
Primary colors, those developed from the solar beam by the
prism, viz., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and
violet, which are reduced by some authors to three, --
red, green, and violet-blue. These three are sometimes
called fundamental colors.
Subjective color or Accidental color, a false or spurious
color seen in some instances, owing to the persistence of
the luminous impression upon the retina, and a gradual
change of its character, as where a wheel perfectly white,
and with a circumference regularly subdivided, is made to
revolve rapidly over a dark object, the teeth of the wheel
appear to the eye of different shades of color varying
with the rapidity of rotation. See Accidental colors,
under Accidental.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Color \Col"or\, v. i.
To acquire color; to turn red, especially in the face; to
blush.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Color \Col"or\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Colored; p. pr. & vb. n.
Coloring.] [F. colorer.]
1. To change or alter the hue or tint of, by dyeing,
staining, painting, etc.; to dye; to tinge; to paint; to
stain.
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The rays, to speak properly, are not colored; in
them there is nothing else than a certain power and
disposition to stir up a sensation of this or that
color. --Sir I.
Newton.
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2. To change or alter, as if by dyeing or painting; to give a
false appearance to; usually, to give a specious
appearance to; to cause to appear attractive; to make
plausible; to palliate or excuse; as, the facts were
colored by his prejudices.
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He colors the falsehood of [AE]neas by an express
command from Jupiter to forsake the queen. --Dryden.
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3. To hide. [Obs.]
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That by his fellowship he color might
Both his estate and love from skill of any wight.
--Spenser.
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From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
colour
color
<graphics> (US "color") Colours are usually represented as
RGB triples in a digital image because this corresponds
most closely to the electronic signals needed to drive a
CRT. Several equivalent systems ("colour models") exist,
e.g. HSB. A colour image may be stored as three separate
images, one for each of red, green, and blue, or each pixel
may encode the colour using separate bit-fields for each
colour component, or each pixel may store a logical colour
number which is looked up in a hardware colour palette to
find the colour to display.
Printers may use the CMYK or Pantone representations of
colours as well as RGB.
(1999-08-02)