- black
- [[t]blæ̱k[/t]]
♦blacker, blackest, blacks, blacking, blacked1) COLOUR Something that is black is of the darkest colour that there is, the colour of the sky at night when there is no light at all.
She was wearing a black coat with a white collar...
He had thick black hair...
I wear a lot of black...
He was dressed all in black.
2) ADJ A black person belongs to a race of people with dark skins, especially a race from Africa.He worked for the rights of black people...
Sherry is black, tall, slender and soft-spoken.
...the traditions of the black community.
3) N-COUNT: usu pl Black people are sometimes referred to as blacks. This use could cause offence.There are about thirty-one million blacks in the US.
4) ADJ: ADJ n, v n ADJ Black coffee or tea has no milk or cream added to it.A cup of black tea or black coffee contains no calories...
I drink coffee black.
5) ADJ-GRADED (emphasis) If you describe a situation as black, you are emphasizing that it is very bad indeed.It was, he said later, one of the blackest days of his political career...
The future for the industry looks even blacker.
6) ADJ-GRADED If someone is in a black mood, they feel very miserable and depressed.In late 1975, she fell into a black depression...
Her mood was blacker than ever.
7) ADJ-GRADED You use black to describe things that you consider to be very cruel or wicked. [LITERARY]I think their crime is a blacker one than mere exploitation.
...the blackest laws in the country's history.
8) ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n Black humour involves jokes about sad or difficult situations.`So you can all go over there and get shot,' he said, with the sort of black humour common among British troops here...
It's a black comedy of racial prejudice, mistaken identity and thwarted expectations.
9) ADJ: ADJ n People who believe in black magic believe that it is possible to communicate with evil spirits.He was also alleged to have conducted black magic ceremonies...
The King was unjustly accused of practising the black arts.
10) VERB If someone blacks another person's eye, they punch or hit that person in the eye, causing it to bruise and look black.→ See also black eye[V n] Her husband blacked her eye...
[V-ed] Their mother was trying to hide her two blacked eyes.
11) PHRASE: usu PHR after v, v-link PHR If you say that someone is black and blue, you mean that they are badly bruised.Whenever she refused, he'd beat her black and blue...
Bud's nose was still black and blue.
12) PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v If a person or an organization is in the black, they do not owe anyone any money.Remington's operations in Japan are now in the black...
Until his finances are in the black I don't want to get married.
13) PHRASE: N inflects, usu PHR after v If someone gives you a black look, they look at you in a way that shows that they are very angry about something.Passing my stall, she cast black looks at the amount of stuff still unsold.
Phrasal Verbs:
English dictionary. 2008.
