— purpleness , n.
/perr"peuhl/ , n. , purpler, purplest , adj., v., purpled, purpling .
n.
1. any color having components of both red and blue, such as lavender, esp. one deep in tone.
2. cloth or clothing of this hue, esp. as formerly worn distinctively by persons of imperial, royal, or other high rank.
3. the rank or office of a cardinal.
4. the office of a bishop.
5. imperial, regal, or princely rank or position.
6. deep red; crimson.
7. any of several nymphalid butterflies, as Basilarchia astyanax (red-spotted purple) , having blackish wings spotted with red, or Basilarchia arthemis (banded purple or white admiral) , having brown wings banded with white.
8. born in or to the purple , of royal or exalted birth: Those born to the purple are destined to live in the public eye.
adj.
9. of the color purple.
10. imperial, regal, or princely.
11. brilliant or showy.
12. full of exaggerated literary devices and effects; marked by excessively ornate rhetoric: a purple passage in a novel.
13. profane or shocking, as language.
v.t. , v.i.
14. to make or become purple.
[ bef. 1000; ME purpel (n. and adj.), OE purple (adj.), var. of purpure purpura kind of shellfish yielding purple dye, the dye, cloth so dyed porphýra; cf. PURPURE, PORPHYRY ]