O night, with hue so black! --Shak.
2. In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in
darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the
heavens black with clouds.
I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud.
--Shak.
3. Fig.: Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness;
destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked;
cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. ``This day's black
fate.'' ``Black villainy.'' ``Arise, black vengeance.''
``Black day.'' ``Black despair.'' --Shak.
4. Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen;
foreboding; as, to regard one with black looks.
Note: Black is often used in self-explaining compound words;
as, black-eyed, black-faced, black-haired,
black-visaged.
{Black act}, the English statute 9 George I, which makes it a
felony to appear armed in any park or warren, etc., or to
hunt or steal deer, etc., with the face blackened or
disguised. Subsequent acts inflicting heavy penalties for
malicious injuries to cattle and machinery have been
called black acts.
{Black angel} (Zo["o]l.), a fish of the West Indies and
Florida ({Holacanthus tricolor}), with the head and tail
yellow, and the middle of the body black.
{Black antimony} (Chem.), the black sulphide of antimony,
{Sb2S3}, used in pyrotechnics, etc.
{Black bear} (Zo["o]l.), the common American bear ({Ursus
Americanus}).
{Black beast}. See {B[^e]te noire}.
{Black beetle} (Zo["o]l.), the common large cockroach
({Blatta orientalis}).
{Black and blue}, the dark color of a bruise in the flesh,
which is accompanied with a mixture of blue. ``To pinch
the slatterns black and blue.'' --Hudibras.
{Black bonnet} (Zo["o]l.), the black-headed bunting ({Embriza
Sch[oe]niclus}) of Europe.
{Black canker}, a disease in turnips and other crops,
produced by a species of caterpillar.
{Black cat} (Zo["o]l.), the fisher, a quadruped of North
America allied to the sable, but larger. See {Fisher}.
{Black cattle}, any bovine cattle reared for slaughter, in
distinction from dairy cattle. [Eng.]
{Black cherry}. See under {Cherry}.
{Black cockatoo} (Zo["o]l.), the palm cockatoo. See
{Cockatoo}.
{Black copper}. Same as {Melaconite}.
{Black currant}. (Bot.) See {Currant}.
{Black diamond}. (Min.) See {Carbonado}.
{Black draught} (Med.), a cathartic medicine, composed of
senna and magnesia.
{Black drop} (Med.), vinegar of opium; a narcotic preparation
consisting essentially of a solution of opium in vinegar.
{Black earth}, mold; earth of a dark color. --Woodward.
{Black flag}, the flag of a pirate, often bearing in white a
skull and crossbones; a signal of defiance.
{Black flea} (Zo["o]l.), a flea beetle ({Haltica nemorum})
injurious to turnips.
{Black flux}, a mixture of carbonate of potash and charcoal,
obtained by deflagrating tartar with half its weight of
niter. --Brande & C.
{Black fly}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) In the United States, a small, venomous, two-winged
fly of the genus {Simulium} of several species,
exceedingly abundant and troublesome in the northern
forests. The larv[ae] are aquatic.
(b) A black plant louse, as the bean aphis ({A. fab[ae]}).
{Black Forest} [a translation of G. Schwarzwald], a forest in
Baden and W["u]rtemburg, in Germany; a part of the ancient
Hercynian forest.
{Black game}, or {Black grouse}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Blackcock},
{Grouse}, and {Heath grouse}.
{Black grass} (Bot.), a grasslike rush of the species {Juncus
Gerardi}, growing on salt marshes, and making good hay.
{Black gum} (Bot.), an American tree, the tupelo or
pepperidge. See {Tupelo}.
{Black Hamburg (grape)} (Bot.), a sweet and juicy variety of
dark purple or ``black'' grape.
{Black horse} (Zo["o]l.), a fish of the Mississippi valley
({Cycleptus elongatus}), of the sucker family; the
Missouri sucker.
{Black lemur} (Zo["o]l.), the {Lemurniger} of Madagascar; the
{acoumbo} of the natives.
{Black list}, a list of persons who are for some reason
thought deserving of censure or punishment; -- esp. a list
of persons stigmatized as insolvent or untrustworthy, made
for the protection of tradesmen or employers. See
{Blacklist}, v. t.
{Black manganese} (Chem.), the black oxide of manganese,
{MnO2}.
{Black Maria}, the close wagon in which prisoners are carried
to or from jail.
{Black martin} (Zo["o]l.), the chimney swift. See {Swift}.
{Black moss} (Bot.), the common so-called long moss of the
southern United States. See {Tillandsia}.
{Black pigment}, a very fine, light carbonaceous substance,
or lampblack, prepared chiefly for the manufacture of
printers' ink. It is obtained by burning common coal tar.
{Black plate}, sheet iron before it is tinned. --Knight.
{Black quarter}, malignant anthrax with engorgement of a
shoulder or quarter, etc., as of an ox.
{Black rat} (Zo["o]l.), one of the species of rats ({Mus
rattus}), commonly infesting houses.
{Black rent}. See {Blackmail}, n., 3.
{Black rust}, a disease of wheat, in which a black, moist
matter is deposited in the fissures of the grain.
{Black sheep}, one in a family or company who is unlike the
rest, and makes trouble.
{Black silver}. (Min.) See under {Silver}.
{Black and tan}, black mixed or spotted with tan color or
reddish brown; -- used in describing certain breeds of
dogs.
{Black tin} (Mining), tin ore (cassiterite), when dressed,
stamped and washed, ready for smelting. It is in the form
of a black powder, like fine sand. --Knight.
{Black walnut}. See under {Walnut}.
{Black warrior} (Zo["o]l.), an American hawk ({Buteo
Harlani}).
Syn: Dark; murky; pitchy; inky; somber; dusky; gloomy; swart;
Cimmerian; ebon; atrocious.
They have their teeth blacked, both men and women,
for they say a dog hath his teeth white, therefore
they will black theirs. --Hakluyt.
Sins which black thy soul. --J. Fletcher.
2. To make black and shining, as boots or a stove, by
applying blacking and then polishing with a brush.
Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and
the suit of night. --Shak.
3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or
shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain
African races.
4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black; pl. (Obs.)
Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery.
Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the
like show death terrible. --Bacon.
That was the full time they used to wear blacks for
the death of their fathers. --Sir T.
North.
5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest
by being black.
The black or sight of the eye. --Sir K.
Digby.
Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks
of lust. --Rowley.
{Black and white}, writing or print; as, I must have that
statement in black and white.
{Blue black}, a pigment of a blue black color.
{Ivory black}, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by
calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief
ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing.
{Berlin black}. See under {Berlin}.