White as the whitest lily on a stream. --Longfellow.
2. Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of
blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear.
Or whispering with white lips, ``The foe! They come!
they come!'' --Byron.
3. Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or
from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure.
White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear. --Dryden.
No whiter page than Addison's remains. --Pope.
4. Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary.
Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head So old
and white as this. --Shak.
5. Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the
like; fortunate; happy; favorable.
On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as
one of the white days of his life. --Sir W.
Scott.
6. Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling.
Come forth, my white spouse. --Chaucer.
I am his white boy, and will not be gullet. --Ford.
Note: White is used in many self-explaining compounds, as
white-backed, white-bearded, white-footed.
{White alder}. (Bot.) See {Sweet pepper bush}, under
{Pepper}.
{White ant} (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of social
pseudoneuropterous insects of the genus {Termes}. These
insects are very abundant in tropical countries, and form
large and complex communities consisting of numerous
asexual workers of one or more kinds, of large-headed
asexual individuals called soldiers, of one or more queens
(or fertile females) often having the body enormously
distended by the eggs, and, at certain seasons of numerous
winged males, together with the larv[ae] and pup[ae] of
each kind in various stages of development. Many of the
species construct large and complicated nests, sometimes
in the form of domelike structures rising several feet
above the ground and connected with extensive subterranean
galleries and chambers. In their social habits they
closely resemble the true ants. They feed upon animal and
vegetable substances of various kinds, including timber,
and are often very destructive to buildings and furniture.
{White arsenic} (Chem.), arsenious oxide, {As2O3}, a
substance of a white color, and vitreous adamantine
luster, having an astringent, sweetish taste. It is a
deadly poison.
{White bass} (Zo["o]l.), a fresh-water North American bass
({Roccus chrysops}) found in the Great Likes.
{White bear} (Zo["o]l.), the polar bear. See under {Polar}.
{White blood cell}. (Physiol.) See {Leucocyte}.
{White brand} (Zo["o]l.), the snow goose.
{White brass}, a white alloy of copper; white copper.
{White campion}. (Bot.)
(a) A kind of catchfly ({Silene stellata}) with white
flowers.
(b) A white-flowered Lychnis ({Lychnis vespertina}).
{White canon} (R. C. Ch.), a Premonstratensian.
{White caps}, the members of a secret organization in various
of the United States, who attempt to drive away or reform
obnoxious persons by lynch-law methods. They appear masked
in white.
{White cedar} (Bot.), an evergreen tree of North America
({Thuja occidentalis}), also the related {Cupressus
thyoides}, or {Cham[ae]cyparis sph[ae]roidea}, a slender
evergreen conifer which grows in the so-called cedar
swamps of the Northern and Atlantic States. Both are much
valued for their durable timber. In California the name is
given to the {Libocedrus decurrens}, the timber of which
is also useful, though often subject to dry rot.
--Goodale. The white cedar of Demerara, Guiana, etc., is a
lofty tree ({Icica, or Bursera, altissima}) whose fragrant
wood is used for canoes and cabinetwork, as it is not
attacked by insect.
{White cell}. (Physiol.) See {Leucocyte}.
{White cell-blood} (Med.), leucocyth[ae]mia.
{White clover} (Bot.), a species of small perennial clover
bearing white flowers. It furnishes excellent food for
cattle and horses, as well as for the honeybee. See also
under {Clover}.
{White copper}, a whitish alloy of copper. See {German
silver}, under {German}.
{White copperas} (Min.), a native hydrous sulphate of iron;
coquimbite.
{White coral} (Zo["o]l.), an ornamental branched coral
({Amphihelia oculata}) native of the Mediterranean.
{White corpuscle}. (Physiol.) See {Leucocyte}.
{White cricket} (Zo["o]l.), the tree cricket.
{White crop}, a crop of grain which loses its green color, or
becomes white, in ripening, as wheat, rye, barley, and
oats, as distinguished from a green crop, or a root crop.
{White currant} (Bot.), a variety of the common red currant,
having white berries.
{White daisy} (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. See under {Daisy}.
{White damp}, a kind of poisonous gas encountered in coal
mines. --Raymond.
{White elephant} (Zo["o]l.), a whitish, or albino, variety of
the Asiatic elephant.