I. ˈye](ˌ)lō, ]lə; ]ləw or ]lō+V; dial or NewEng & Brit +V ]lər; dial ˈya] ( but ˈyalə(r) often occurs in standard speech when “high” precedes adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English yelwe, yelow, yalow, from Old English geolu; akin to Old High German gelo yellow, Old Norse gulr yellow, Old Irish gel white, Latin helvus light bay, Greek chlōros greenish yellow, Sanskrit hari yellowish, greenish; basic meaning: shimmer, glow
1.
a. : of the color yellow : of a color of the hue of sulfur or of a hue somewhat less red than that of gold
b. : changed to a yellow hue through age, disease (as jaundice), or discoloration : yellowed , sallow
yellow parchment
yellow skin
c. : having a yellow or mulatto complexion or skin
immigration of Orientals raised a false specter of the peril of the yellow races
having had a white father, he is known as a yellow Negro
the yellow girl stopped — R.P.Warren
2. archaic : affected with envy : jaundiced , jealous
3.
a. : gaining or holding interest by printing or headlining sensational or scandalous items or ordinary news sensationally distorted
tempers might have subsided altogether had not a yellow newspaper … exhorted the soldiers to stand for their rights — Dixon Wecter
the same technique of sensationalism that had lured new readers to the yellow journals — H.L.Smith b. 1906
set his newspaper off sharply from the yellow journalism of morbid sensationalism which flowered … at the turn of the century — F.L.Mott
b. : mean , dishonorable , cowardly
the little yellow stain of treason — M.W.Straight
is too yellow to stand up and fight
has a pronounced yellow streak
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
: to make or turn yellow : cause to have a yellow tinge or color
old clothes and papers that time and neglect have yellowed
wild daffodils were yellowing the grassy slopes — Victoria Sackville-West
the sun yellows the meadow
intransitive verb
: to become or turn yellow
I let my tobacco yellow for about a week — Caroline Gordon
the leaves yellow in the fall
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English yelow, yalow, from yelow, yalow yellow (adjective)
1.
a. : a color whose hue resembles that of ripe lemons or sunflowers or is that of the portion of the spectrum lying between green and orange
b. : the one of the four psychologically primary hues that is evoked in the normal observer under normal conditions by radiant energy of the wavelength 580 millimicrons
c. : one of the six psychologically primary object colors — compare primary 4a
d. : one of the subtractive primaries
e. : a pigment or dye that colors yellow
2. : something that is yellow or is chiefly distinguished by a yellow color: as
a. : a person having yellow skin
had engaged blacks, browns, yellows about equally — Frances Gaither
b. : sulphur II
c. : the yolk of an egg
d. : yellow sponge
3. yellows plural : jaundice , weil's disease
4. yellows plural : any of several plants: as
a. : yellow lady's-slipper
b. : crambling rocket
5. yellows plural : any of several plant diseases (as of aster, celery, or peach) caused by fungi, bacteria, malnutrition, or especially by viruses and characterized by yellowing of the foliage and stunting