colour

[[t]kʌ̱lə(r)[/t]]

♦

colours, colouring, coloured

(in AM, use color)

1) N-COUNT: usu with supp The colour of something is the appearance that it has as a result of the way in which it reflects light. Red, blue, and green are colours.

`What colour is the car?' - `Red.'...

Her silk dress was sky-blue, the colour of her eyes...

Judi's favourite colour is pink...

The badges come in twenty different colours and shapes.

2) N-VAR A colour is a substance you use to give something a particular colour. Dyes and make-up are sometimes referred to as colours.

...The Body Shop Herbal Hair Colour...

It is better to avoid all food colours.

...the latest lip and eye colours.

3) VERB If you colour something, you use something such as dyes or paint to change its colour.

[V n] Many women begin colouring their hair in their mid-30s...

[V n] We'd been making cakes and colouring the posters...

[V n colour] The petals can be cooked with rice to colour it yellow.

Derived words:

colouring N-UNCOUNT

They could not afford to spoil those maps by careless colouring.

4) VERB If someone colours, their face becomes redder than it normally is, usually because they are embarrassed.

Andrew couldn't help noticing that she coloured slightly.

Syn:

blush

5) N-COUNT: usu sing, oft poss N (politeness) Someone's colour is the colour of their skin. People often use colour in this way to refer to a person's race.

I don't care what colour she is...

He acknowledged that Mr Taylor's colour and ethnic origins were utterly irrelevant in the circumstances.

6) ADJ: usu ADJ n A colour television, photograph, or picture is one that shows things in all their colours, and not just in black, white, and grey.

In Japan 99 per cent of all households now have a colour television set.

7) N-UNCOUNT Colour is a quality that makes something especially interesting or exciting.

→ See also local colour

She had resumed the travel necessary to add depth and colour to her novels.

8) VERB If something colours your opinion, it affects the way that you think about something.

[V n] All too often it is only the negative images of Ireland that are portrayed, colouring opinions and hiding the true nature of the country...

[V n] The attitude of the parents toward the usefulness of what is learned must colour the way children approach school.

Syn:

affect

9) N-PLURAL A country's national colours are the colours of its national flag.

The Opera House is decorated with the Hungarian national colours: green, red and white.

10) N-PLURAL: poss N People sometimes refer to the flag of a particular part of an army, navy, or air force, or the flag of a particular country as its colours.

Troops raised the country's colors in a special ceremony.

...the battalion's colours.

11) N-PLURAL A sports team's colours are the colours of the clothes they wear when they play.

I was wearing the team's colours.

12) → See also , colouring

13) PHRASE: PHR after v If you pass a test with flying colours, you have done very well in the test.

So far McAllister seemed to have passed all the tests with flying colors.

14) PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v If a film or television programme is in colour, it has been made so that you see the picture in all its colours, and not just in black, white, or grey.

Was he going to show the film? Was it in colour?...

You can go home afterwards and watch Inspector Morse in colour.

15) PHRASE: V inflects If someone nails their colours to the mast, they say what they really think about something.

I shall nail my colours firmly to the mast on this subject - as a feminist I find movies like this offensive.

16) PHRASE: V inflects If you nail your colours to someone's mast, or if you nail your colours to a particular mast, you show that you support a particular person or issue. [JOURNALISM]

He has nailed his colours firmly to Mr Dobson's mast...

Mr Kennedy nailed his colours to the mast of the single currency.

17) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that you want to see the colour of someone's money, you mean that you are not prepared to sell them something or do something for them until they have proved that they have the money to pay for it.

He made a mental note never to enter into conversation with a customer until he'd at least seen the colour of his money.

18) PHRASE: n PHR (politeness) People of colour are people who belong to a race with dark skins.

Black communities spoke up to defend the rights of all people of color.

19) PHRASE: PHR after v If you see someone in their true colours or if they show their true colours, you realize what they are really like.

The children are seeing him in his true colours for the first time now...

Here, the organization has had time to show its true colours, to show its inefficiency and its bungling.

Phrasal Verbs:

- colour in