■ adjective
1》 of the colour of milk or fresh snow, due to the reflection of all visible rays of light.
↘very pale.
↘ Brit. (of coffee or tea) served with milk.
↘(of food such as bread or rice) light in colour through having been refined.
2》 relating to or denoting a human group having light-coloured skin, especially of European ancestry.
3》 morally or spiritually pure.
4》 (of wine) made from ~ grapes, or dark grapes with the skins removed, and having a yellowish colour.
5》 ( White ) historical counter-revolutionary or reactionary.
■ noun
1》 ~ colour or pigment.
↘(also ~s ) ~ clothes or material.
↘( White ) the player of the ~ pieces in chess or draughts.
2》 the visible pale part of the eyeball around the iris.
3》 the outer part (~ when cooked) which surrounds the yolk of an egg; the albumen.
4》 a member of a light-skinned people.
5》 a ~ or cream butterfly. [ Pieris brassicae ( large ~ ), P. rapae ( small ~ , both crop pests), and other species.]
■ verb
1》 (usu. ~ something out ) turn (something) ~.
↘obliterate (a mistake) with ~ correction fluid.
2》 ( ~ out ) lose colour vision as a prelude to losing consciousness.
Phrases
bleed someone/thing ~ drain of wealth or resources.
~d sepulchre literary a hypocrite. [with biblical allusion to Matt 23:27.]
Derivatives
~ly adverb
~n verb
~ner noun
~ness noun
whitish adjective
Origin
OE hwīt , of Gmc origin; related to wheat .
Usage
White has been used to refer to the skin colour of Europeans or their descendants since the early 17th century. Although ~ has not been used in a derogatory way (unlike, for example, red ), there is a growing tendency to use terms which relate to geographical origin rather than skin colour: hence the currently preferred term in the US is European .