Note: The European species are {Milvus ictinus} and {M.
govinda}; the sacred or Brahmany kite of India is
{Haliastur Indus}; the American fork-tailed kite is the
{Nauclerus furcatus}.
2. Fig. : One who is rapacious.
Detested kite, thou liest. --Shak.
3. A light frame of wood or other material covered with paper
or cloth, for flying in the air at the end of a string.
4. (Naut.) A lofty sail, carried only when the wind is light.
5. (Geom.) A quadrilateral, one of whose diagonals is an axis
of symmetry. --Henrici.
6. Fictitious commercial paper used for raising money or to
sustain credit, as a check which represents no deposit in
bank, or a bill of exchange not sanctioned by sale of
goods; an accommodation check or bill. [Cant]
7. (Zo["o]l.) The brill. [Prov. Eng. ]
{Flying kites}. (Naut.) See under {Flying}.
{Kite falcon} (Zo["o]l.), an African falcon of the genus
{Avicida}, having some resemblance to a kite.
{White elm} (Bot.), a majestic tree of North America ({Ulmus
Americana}), the timber of which is much used for hubs of
wheels, and for other purposes.
{White ensign}. See {Saint George's ensign}, under {Saint}.
{White feather}, a mark or symbol of cowardice. See {To show
the white feather}, under {Feather}, n.
{White fir} (Bot.), a name given to several coniferous trees
of the Pacific States, as {Abies grandis}, and {A.
concolor}.
{White flesher} (Zo["o]l.), the ruffed grouse. See under
{Ruffed}. [Canada]
{White frost}. See {Hoarfrost}.
{White game} (Zo["o]l.), the white ptarmigan.
{White garnet} (Min.), leucite.
{White grass} (Bot.), an American grass ({Leersia Virginica})
with greenish-white pale[ae].
{White grouse}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The white ptarmigan.
(b) The prairie chicken. [Local, U. S.]
{White grub} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of the June bug and other
allied species. These grubs eat the roots of grasses and
other plants, and often do much damage.
{White hake} (Zo["o]l.), the squirrel hake. See under
{Squirrel}.
{White hawk}, or {kite} (Zo["o]l.), the hen harrier.
{White heat}, the temperature at which bodies become
incandescent, and appear white from the bright light which
they emit.
{White hellebore} (Bot.), a plant of the genus {Veratrum}
({V. album}) See {Hellebore}, 2.
{White herring}, a fresh, or unsmoked, herring, as
distinguished from a red, or cured, herring. [R.] --Shak.
{White hoolet} (Zo["o]l.), the barn owl. [Prov. Eng.]
{White horses} (Naut.), white-topped waves; whitecaps.
{The White House}. See under {House}.
{White ibis} (Zo["o]l.), an American ibis ({Guara alba})
having the plumage pure white, except the tips of the
wings, which are black. It inhabits tropical America and
the Southern United States. Called also {Spanish curlew}.
{White iron}.
(a) Thin sheets of iron coated with tin; tinned iron.
(b) A hard, silvery-white cast iron containing a large
proportion of combined carbon.
{White iron pyrites} (Min.), marcasite.
{White land}, a tough clayey soil, of a whitish hue when dry,
but blackish after rain. [Eng.]
{White lark} (Zo["o]l.), the snow bunting.
{White lead}.
(a) A carbonate of lead much used in painting, and for
other purposes; ceruse.
(b) (Min.) Native lead carbonate; cerusite.
{White leather}, buff leather; leather tanned with alum and
salt.
{White leg} (Med.), milk leg. See under {Milk}.
{White lettuce} (Bot.), rattlesnake root. See under
{Rattlesnake}.
{White light}.
(a) (Physics) Light having the different colors in the
same proportion as in the light coming directly from
the sun, without having been decomposed, as by passing
through a prism. See the Note under {Color}, n., 1.
(b) A kind of firework which gives a brilliant white
illumination for signals, etc.
{White lime}, a solution or preparation of lime for
whitewashing; whitewash.
{White line} (Print.), a void space of the breadth of a line,
on a printed page; a blank line.
{White meat}.
(a) Any light-colored flesh, especially of poultry.
(b) Food made from milk or eggs, as butter, cheese, etc.
Driving their cattle continually with them, and
feeding only upon their milk and white meats.
--Spenser.
{White merganser} (Zo["o]l.), the smew.
{White metal}.
(a) Any one of several white alloys, as pewter, britannia,
etc.
(b) (Metal.) A fine grade of copper sulphide obtained at a
certain stage in copper smelting.
{White miller}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The common clothes moth.
(b) A common American bombycid moth ({Spilosoma
Virginica}) which is pure white with a few small black
spots; -- called also {ermine moth}, and {virgin
moth}. See {Woolly bear}, under {Woolly}.
{White mouse} (Zo["o]l.), the albino variety of the common
mouse.
{White mullet} (Zo["o]l.), a silvery mullet ({Mugil curema})
ranging from the coast of the United States to Brazil; --
called also {blue-back mullet}, and {liza}.
{White nun} (Zo["o]l.), the smew; -- so called from the white
crest and the band of black feathers on the back of its
head, which give the appearance of a hood.
{White oak}. (Bot.) See under {Oak}.
{White owl}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The snowy owl.
(b) The barn owl.
{White partridge} (Zo["o]l.), the white ptarmigan.
{White perch}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) A North American fresh-water bass ({Morone Americana})
valued as a food fish.
(b) The croaker, or fresh-water drum.
(c) Any California surf fish.
{White pine}. (Bot.) See the Note under {Pine}.
{White poplar} (Bot.), a European tree ({Populus alba}) often
cultivated as a shade tree in America; abele.
{White poppy} (Bot.), the opium-yielding poppy. See {Poppy}.
{White powder}, a kind of gunpowder formerly believed to
exist, and to have the power of exploding without noise.
[Obs.]
A pistol charged with white powder. --Beau. & Fl.
{White precipitate}. (Old Chem.) See under {Precipitate}.
{White rabbit}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The American northern hare in its winter pelage.
(b) An albino rabbit.
{White rent},
(a) (Eng. Law) Formerly, rent payable in silver; --
opposed to black rent. See {Blackmail}, n., 3.
(b) A rent, or duty, of eight pence, payable yearly by
every tinner in Devon and Cornwall to the Duke of
Cornwall, as lord of the soil. [Prov. Eng.]
{White rhinoceros}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The one-horned, or Indian, rhinoceros ({Rhinoceros
Indicus}). See {Rhinoceros}.
(b) The umhofo.
{White ribbon}, the distinctive badge of certain
organizations for the promotion of temperance or of moral
purity; as, the White-ribbon Army.
{White rope} (Naut.), untarred hemp rope.
{White rot}. (Bot.)
(a) Either of several plants, as marsh pennywort and
butterwort, which were thought to produce the disease
called rot in sheep.
(b) A disease of grapes. See {White rot}, under {Rot}.
{White sage} (Bot.), a white, woolly undershrub ({Eurotia
lanata}) of Western North America; -- called also {winter
fat}.
{White salmon} (Zo["o]l.), the silver salmon.
{White salt}, salt dried and calcined; decrepitated salt.
{White scale} (Zo["o]l.), a scale insect ({Aspidiotus Nerii})
injurious to the orange tree. See {Orange scale}, under
{Orange}.
{White shark} (Zo["o]l.), a species of man-eating shark. See
under {Shark}.
{White softening}. (Med.) See {Softening of the brain}, under
{Softening}.
{White spruce}. (Bot.) See {Spruce}, n., 1.
{White squall} (Naut.), a sudden gust of wind, or furious
blow, which comes up without being marked in its approach
otherwise than by whitecaps, or white, broken water, on
the surface of the sea.
{White staff}, the badge of the lord high treasurer of
England. --Macaulay.
{White stork} (Zo["o]l.), the common European stork.
{White sturgeon}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Shovelnose}
(d) .
{White sucker}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) The common sucker.
(b) The common red horse ({Moxostoma macrolepidotum}).
{White swelling} (Med.), a chronic swelling of the knee,
produced by a strumous inflammation of the synovial
membranes of the kneejoint and of the cancellar texture of
the end of the bone forming the kneejoint; -- applied also
to a lingering chronic swelling of almost any kind.
{White trout} (Zo["o]l.), the white weakfish, or silver
squeteague ({Cynoscion nothus}), of the Southern United
States.
{White vitriol} (Chem.), hydrous sulphate of zinc. See {White
vitriol}, under {Vitriol}.
{White wagtail} (Zo["o]l.), the common, or pied, wagtail.
{White wax}, beeswax rendered white by bleaching.
{White whale} (Zo["o]l.), the beluga.
{White widgeon} (Zo["o]l.), the smew.
{White wine}. any wine of a clear, transparent color,
bordering on white, as Madeira, sherry, Lisbon, etc.; --
distinguished from wines of a deep red color, as port and
Burgundy. ``White wine of Lepe.'' --Chaucer.
{White witch}, a witch or wizard whose supernatural powers
are supposed to be exercised for good and beneficent
purposes. --Addison. --Cotton Mather.
{White wolf}. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) A light-colored wolf ({Canis laniger}) native of
Thibet; -- called also {chanco}, {golden wolf}, and
{Thibetan wolf}.
(b) The albino variety of the gray wolf.
{White wren} (Zo["o]l.), the willow warbler; -- so called
from the color of the under parts.