noun
Etymology: Middle English white led, from white (I) + leed, led lead
: any of several poisonous white pigments containing lead: as
a. : a pigment consisting of basic lead carbonate of variable composition and physical properties that is usually produced from metallic lead or litharge, acetic acid, moisture, and carbon dioxide by various processes (as the Dutch process, Carter process, or chamber process) and marketed as a heavy powder or as a paste in linseed oil, that has good hiding power especially in the case of the finer particle sizes and forms tough flexible films tending to chalk and darkening by reaction with hydrogen sulfide in industrial atmospheres, and that is now used chiefly in exterior paints often in mixtures with other white pigments — called also basic carbonate white lead, ceruse ; see flake white , kremnitz white
b. : a pigment that consists essentially of a mixture of equimolar ratios of normal lead sulfate and monobasic lead sulfate and is used in mixtures with other pigments in exterior paints — called also basic sulfate white lead ; compare sublimed white lead
c. : a pigment consisting either of a basic lead silicate approximately Pb 3 (OH) 2 SiO 3 or of a surface layer of monobasic lead silicate and monobasic lead sulfate on a core of silica — called also basic silicate white lead