blackenv.
/ˈblak(ə)n/, U.S. /ˈblæk(ə)n/ 1. intransitive. To become or grow black, to darken. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > black or blackness > making or becoming black > become black [verb (intransitive)]
blackc1225
blackenc1300
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 2165 (MED) He bigan to wakne And wit hem ful sore to blakne, For he wende he wolden him slo.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 22513 (MED) At middai time..Blacken it [sc. the sun] sal.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 17430 (MED) To blacken þan bigan þair brous.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 162v All blackonet his blode & his ble chaungit.
c1580 ( tr. Bk. Alexander (1921) II. ii. l. 108 The anger thrang his hart sa fast His vissage blaknit at the last.
a1642 F. Kinnaston Leoline & Sydanis (1646) 34 Now as before a storme, the clouded skie Blackens and darkens, sullenly it loures.
1700 J. Dryden tr. G. Boccaccio Theodore & Honoria in Fables 267 Air blacken'd; rowl'd the Thunder; groan'd the Ground.
1758 S. Johnson Idler 5 Aug. 137 Rain will fall when the air blackens.
1793 T.-A. Mann Let. 28 Oct. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) 437 Our political horizon blackens and threatens more and more.
1805 ‘E. de Acton’ Nuns of Desert I. 28 The clouds blackened, the tempest was pendant.
1871 J. Morley Crit. Misc. (1878) 1st Ser. 193 It may blacken into cynicism.
1936 E. Waugh Mr. Loveday's Outing 9 The weather..had suddenly blackened into a squall. There had been a scuttle for cover.
1954 D. Thomson People of Sea (2001) vi. 129 They tried to bring the boat near again, but the swell grew worse and the sky blackened.
2003 K. Daswani For Matrimonial Purposes (U.K. ed.) 14 It stinks out here. Daddy, this is so not fresh air... I can see your lungs blackening!
2. transitive (also intransitive with object understood).
a. To make black or dark.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > black or blackness > making or becoming black > make black [verb (transitive)]
blackc1350
blecka1382
blacken?a1425
bletch1570
bepitch1574
blatch1587
becollier1599
sable1610
bleach1611
bleak1611
sableize1611
denigrate1623
nigrify1656
ebonize1880
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 123v Auicen..componeþ oþer to blakne [?c1425 Paris to make the heres blak; L. ad denigrandum] & to conserue of blac mirabolanez.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 24 The aire was all our[e] blakenyt and obscurit with the reik.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum To make blacke, or blacken, denigro.
1612 W. Leigh Queene Elizabeth i. 11 Their antichristian doctrine is traduced by Symancha, Costerus and Dolman, who haue blackened the aire with their derne diuinitie.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 518. ⁋2 You ought to have blackened the edges of a paper which brought us so ill news.
1829 Times 21 Aug. 2/5 On Sunday morning there was a frost, which on low situations blackened the potato-stems.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies vii. 269 The Birds..blackening all the air.
1938 Amer. Home Oct. 83/4 (advt.) Washing towels and hankies blackened by the menfolks' shoe polish.
1953 A. Hosain Phoenix Fled 128 The tobacco in it..had blackened her teeth and lips.
2007 Ecologist July–Aug. 32/2 The oil went up the river on the tides, it blackened the beaches.
b. To apply black colour to (the body, esp. the face), esp. as an aid to concealment or in order to play the role of a black person. Cf. to blacken up at Phrasal verbs.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > stage [verb (intransitive)] > make up
black1579
blacken1699
to make up1839
to whiten up1878
to blacken up1884
to black up1890
to white up1890
1699 W. Harris Descr. Royal Palace & Gardens at Loo 61 Some Swart-makers,..who did blacken their Faces to conceal themselves in their Robberies.
1736 Present State Republick Lett. 18 431 [The mourners] appear in the streets in small companies of ten or twelve persons half naked, who blacken their faces, and are not very unlike our chimney-sweepers.
1778 J. Carver Trav. N.-Amer. xv. 407 The Indians in general are very strict in the observance of their laws relative to mourning for their dead. In some nations they cut off their hair, blacken their faces.
1846 Rural Repository 23 May 150/1 A scene from ‘Othello’ was fixed upon..by the Colonel, who, in order to look the character, blackened his face all over with burnt cork.
1894 Sandusky (Ohio) Reg. 12 Oct. 4/2 The minstrel show was given, the women had blackened their faces with cork.
1916 Crisis Aug. 201/1 He disguised himself as a Negro by blackening his face and hands to do this.
1943 Life 19 July 69/1 The Commando blackens his face for his night raids.
1984 New Mexican (Santa Fe, New Mexico) 13 Nov. a5/1 The man, who wore combat fatigues and had blackened his face, fired..many shots during the 3½ hour siege.
2008 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 29 Dec. 23 A band..decided to stop blackening their faces and changed their name from the Angus Black And White Minstrels after council officials warned them their act could be regarded as racist.
c. To clean and polish (shoes, a stove, etc.) with blacking (blacking n.1 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning shoes > clean shoes [verb (transitive)] > clean shoes with blacking
black1568
blacken1730
shine1872
1730 Vindic. of Libel (broadside) Here blacken your Shoes.
1812 Spirit Irish Wit 99 Peter fell to work..and having blackened one boot of each, demanded his price.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Stove-brush, a housemaid's polishing-brush, for blackening or shining a grate.
1889 Indiana (Pa.) Messenger 25 Sept. 3/5 Many think it very wicked to blacken their boots on Sabbath morning.
1907 K. D. Wiggin Old Peabody Pew i. 36 She scoured the table, then the floor, then blackened the stove before she sat down to her knitting.
1947 Gettysburg (Pa.) Times 20 May 4/1 The Frederick club had along..colored boys to blacken their shoes, brush their clothes, etc.
2002 S. Shesgreen Images of Outcast 129/1 In the background, a man blackens the shoes of an aristocrat.
d. To bruise or discolour (part of the body, esp. the area surrounding the eye) by a blow. Cf. to black (a person's) eye at black v. 2e.
ΚΠ
1808 Times 17 May 3/3 The tremendous right-handed hit in the..first round, which produced an effusion of blood, loosened his teeth, blackened his eye.
1832 Athenæum 29 Dec. 842/2 I now felt rather sore from firing my piece so often; the recoil against my shoulder and breast had blackened them, and rendered them rather painful.
1865 T. H. Barrau Tales Filial Love 47 Yes, I will make his nose bleed, tear his ear, blacken his eye, and in fact, give him a regular good thrashing.
1901 S. Baring-Gould Frobishers xxx. 283 ‘I'll blacken his peepers,’ said Carrie, ‘if he do but name it.’
1984 M. Richler in G. Lynch & D. Rampton Canad. Ess. (1991) 254 A few days later I contrived to get into a scrap with Yankel, leaping at him, blackening his eye.
2005 D. Crouse Copy Cats 121 His right eye was freshly blackened, his nose red and swollen.
3. transitive. figurative. To defame (a person), to damage (a person's reputation, name, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > sullying or staining of reputation > stain or sully [verb (transitive)]
filea1325
foulc1330
tache1390
dark?c1400
distain1406
smita1413
blemish1414
black?c1425
defoul1470
maculate?a1475
macule1484
tan1530
staina1535
spota1542
smear1549
blot1566
besmear1579
defile1581
attaint1590
soila1596
slubber1599
tack1601
woad1603
besmirch1604
blur1604
to breathe upon ——1608
be-smut1610
clouda1616
sullya1616
taint1623
smutch1640
blackena1649
to cast, put, throw (etc.) a slur on or upon (a person or thing)1654
beslur1675
tarnish1695
blackwash1762
carbonify1792
smirch1820
tattoo1884
dirten1987
a1649 W. Drummond Hist. James V in Wks. (1711) 85 Calumnies tho' they do not burn, yet blacken.
1660 Exact Accompt Trial Regicides 45 To draw up that Impeachment so, as to Blacken Him.
1698 R. Ferguson View of Ecclesiastick in Socks & Buskins 117 He hath Tygerously fallen upon the Dead and Endeavoured to Blacken their Memory.
1792 T. Holcroft Anna St. Ives VI. cxii. 183 All hell seems busy to blacken me!
1818 Ld. Byron Let. 7 Dec. (1981) XI. 169 I was deserted & blackened by all..even my relations..despaired of or abandoned me.
1940 J. Colville Diary 15 June in Fringes of Power (1985) 158 We shall blacken their name for a thousand years.
1993 R. Murphy Smash & Grab xi. 140/2 His attempts to blacken Rita's character..only aroused sympathy for her.
4.
a. transitive. To make black by exposure to fire; to burn or char.figurative in quot. 1764.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > black or blackness > making or becoming black > make black [verb (transitive)] > with heat
forkulie?c1225
blacken1764
1764 T. Hartley Paradise Restored ii. 96 Just so the divine fire; it wounds only to heal; it blackens in order to purify.
1796 J. Owen Trav. Europe II. cx. 126 All these [sc. items from a Roman town, displayed in a museum], though blackened by the fire, are yet accurately distinguishable.
1841 H. Vyse Operations Pyramids of Gizeh II. 42 The interior..appeared to me to have been stained and blackened by fire.
1860 Christian Rev. Oct. 574 The felling of the trees, and the fires that blackened and consumed them.
1912 E. P. Terry Man. Gen. Agric. 96 Weigh 5 c.c. milk in an evaporating dish. Evaporate it over the flame carefully, taking care not to blacken it, as some carbon would be consumed as carbon dioxid.
1988 M. Stewart Quick Cook Menus ii. 139 Be very careful not to blacken the chicken—it is better to cook it slowly than to burn it to a crisp.
1993 N.Y. Times 19 Oct. c13/2 Some 26,000 acres were burned last spring in 11 separate controlled burns, the largest of which blackened 6,000 acres.
2009 E. E. Brown Compl. Tassajara Cookbk. 96 The peppers can also be blackened over a charcoal grill.
b. transitive. In Cajun cookery: to prepare (food, esp. meat or fish) using the technique of blackening. Cf. blackening n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook [verb (transitive)] > fry > fry in specific way
sauté1868
sauter1869
jump1870
pan-fry1916
stir-fry1959
blacken1984
1984 Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen 112 To ‘blacken’ the steaks: Combine the ingredients of the seasoning mix thoroughly... Sprinkle the steaks generously... Place one steak in the hot skillet..and cook over very high heat until the underside starts to develop a heavy black crust.
1987 Miami Herald (Nexis) 19 Mar. e3 Very few restaurants use this authentic method to blacken fish and meats, and you can do what they do—grill or saute, and call it ‘Cajun’ because you sprinkle it with hot spices.
1997 P. Jhung Guests without Grief 47 A heavy cast-iron pan is good for browning chicken and blackening Cajun-style catfish.
2010 Banff Crag & Canyon (Alberta) (Nexis) 23 Mar. 31 Cajun cooking has re-popularized the use of cast iron pans for blackening meats.
Phrasal verbs
to blacken up
Chiefly U.S.
1. transitive. To apply black colour to (the body, esp. the face), typically in order to play the role of a black person; = to black up 2a at black v. Phrasal verbs.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > stage [verb (transitive)] > make up
to make up1778
to whiten up1842
to blacken up1861
to black up1877
to white up1906
1861 A. Curling Self-divorced II. i. 5 Again, he blackened up his visage..and then again he went forth, played and sang and earned his breakfast.
1880 Greenville (Mercer County, Pa.) Advance Argus 26 Feb. 1/9 One of the hard cases of the neighborhood blackened up his face for a joke and went to the ball.
1945 K. S. Prichard Haxby's Circus 59 Sometimes we blacken him up to look like a negro.
1961 N.Y. Amsterdam News 19 Aug. 17/2 When it is done the Otello role is usually played by white artists who blacken themselves up for the occasion.
2009 A. Beevor D-Day 25 Eve of battle rituals included shaving heads... Faces were also blackened up, mostly with soot from the stoves.
2. intransitive. To apply black colour to one's body (esp. the face), typically in order to play the role of a black person; = to black up 2b at black v. Phrasal verbs.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > stage [verb (intransitive)] > make up
black1579
blacken1699
to make up1839
to whiten up1878
to blacken up1884
to black up1890
to white up1890
1884 Bucks County (Pa.) Gaz. 7 Feb. 3/4 They told..the committee that they had permission from the manager of the hall to blacken up which when they appeared on the stage proved to be a base fabrication.
1918 Reedy's Mirror 4 Jan. 5/1 (Gives a trench-mirror and can of paint to the soldiers.) You can blacken-up while you're waiting.
1981 Mother Jones Mag. Jan. 28/1 Sometimes white stars, Shirley Temple for example, would blacken up and play the role of Topsy.
2002 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 23 Oct. (Features section) 14 Often played by black people, it [sc. the banjo] was at one point taken up by white comedians who would blacken up and play the instrument in mimicry.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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