whiteningn.
/ˈwʌɪtn̩ɪŋ/, /ˈwʌɪtnɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈ(h)waɪtnɪŋ/ 1.
a. The action or an act of making something white in colour (by bleaching, whitewashing, etc.); the action of becoming white in colour. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > white or whiteness > whitening > [noun]
whitening1576
blanching1600
albationa1692
1576 G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health ii. f. 85v The first water which commeth, serueth vnto the cleering and whytening of the face.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxxi. xi. 423 If the softest [spunge]..be..bathed..in the fome of salt: after which they ought to be laid abroad in the moon-shine,..that thereby they may take their whitening.
1684 A. Symson in W. Macfarlane Geogr. Coll. Scotl. (1907) II. 87 It is an excellent place for whitening or bleeching of Linnen.
1713 J. Addison in Guardian 16 July 2/2 Our Faces debar us from all artificial Whitenings.
1786 J. Abercrombie Gardeners Daily Assistant 107 Tie up early winter cos lettuce—that are well advanced, to forward their cabbaging, and whitening in the heart.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 956 Pin manufacture... 9. Whitening or tinning.
1857 W. A. Miller Elements Chem.: Org. III. xi. 673 After another scraping on the flesh side, or whitening, it [sc. the skin] is ready to be stored away.
1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein II. 401 That popular agitation, that first whitening of the waves for the storm of the Anti-Napoleonic Revolution.
1922 Sugar Mar. 158/3 The whitening of the leaves (albication) is described.
1990 M. A. Coffroth et al. in P. W. Glynn Global Ecol. Consequences 1982–83 El Niño 142 Much of the coral mortality observed during 1982-83 was preceded by coral bleaching..the whitening of coral tissue due to the loss of zooxanthellae.
2006 Brides Sept. 298/2 (advt.,) Whitening..can make everyone's smile more beautiful.
b. The action of making or becoming morally or spiritually pure; an instance of this.
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1660 T. Watson Beatitudes 254 All the legal washings and purifications were but Types and Emblems, representing Christs blood; this blood layes the soul a whitening.
1682 J. Marlow Lett. to Sick Friend 44 The Leprosie on Naamans Flesh may conduce towards the whitening of his Mind.
1792 Christian's Mag. May 182 Grace lays the naturally black soul out a whitening, and makes the heart a spiritual temple.
1857 C. Heavysege Saul iii. iv. ix. 310 Live and repent of thy black arts, ere death Shall send thee where there may not be a whitening.
1891 Athenæum 26 Dec. 870/2 It goes too far in its blackening of Macbeth and in its whitening of Lady Macbeth.
2013 J. L. Whitmer Religiosity of Evil xii. 197 My soul certainly needed whitening.
c. The action or process of making white in ethnic or cultural identity, character, or style; spec. the policy of increasing the number or influence of white people in a population, workforce, etc. [In spec. sense frequently translating Portuguese branqueamento or Spanish blanqueamiento, with reference to policies of ‘racial whitening’ adopted by various Latin American countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.]
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1828 Marly: Planter's Life in Jamaica xii. 220 When this new and happy era for Africa begins, at the same moment the whitening of the sable race will commence.
1901 Alkaloidal Clinic Mar. 206/1 The post-bellum whitening of the Negro inter-racially considered is..enhanced by the Anglo-Saxon culture and education he is receiving.
1942 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 36 35 This legal whitening of the Democratic party in the South.
1954 W. L. Schurz This New World v. 172 Brazilians..tended to consider the progressive branquemento [sic], or whitening, of the population as a national ideal.
1999 K. A. Appiah & H. L. Gates Africana 123/1 A number of countries in Latin America pursued policies of racial whitening.
2004 T. L. Kernodle Soul on Soul v. 92 Bebop would be these musicians' response to the ‘whitening’ of jazz and the commercialization of the music.
2. A substance, agent, etc., used to whiten something; spec. whiting (whiting n.1 1).
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > white or whiteness > whitener > [noun] > whiting powder or stone
whitingeOE
whitening1638
hearthstone1705
Paris white1838
blanco1895
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > mineral material > [noun] > chalk > type of
whitingeOE
whitening1638
arcanna1753
1638 F. Hawkins tr. J.-P. de La Serre Alarum for Ladyes 71 This yong simple fondling..hath employed about her face all her whitening.
1651 tr. J. Kitchin Jurisdictions 21 If any by any way corrupt the common Waters, by whittening, by Lime, or by Flax, or Stuff laid in the Waters, by which the Waters are corrupt, it is inquirable.
1692 J. Parke Call Universal Spirit Christ Jesus 10 Your Whitening wherewith you white your outside, is seen and discovered with the Light of Christ Jesus.
1710 G. Baillie Househ. Bk. (1911) 84 For whittining to the wals 1s. 3d.
1775 tr. Valuable Secrets Arts & Trades 57 It is done with whitening, or white-chalk.
1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 29 Derbyshire stone, whitening and plaister of Paris.
1897 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 12 Mar. 322/1 The cake of whitening you can powder between the fingers, the plaster of Paris you cannot so crush.
1906 ‘G. Travers’ Growth i. 5 The smell of moisture and bathbrick and whitening.
1994 R. Bottomley Rocking Horses 28/2 Using a sealer and coats of emulsion and lacquer instead of the traditional whitening and plaster.
2011 C. Howse Pilgrim in Spain iv. 57 The capital letters, cut into the single slab of wood..still retain some of the whitening that had been tooled into them.
Compounds
attributive, with the sense of ‘of, relating to, or used in the process of whitening’, as whitening agent, whitening process, whitening toothpaste, etc.
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1731 Act to prevent Stealing of Linen from Fields (Act George II c. 16) 523 All..Persons, who..steal, and carry away, out of or from any whitening or bleaching Croft.
1797 F. Burney Let. 16 Nov. in Jrnls. & Lett. (1973) III. 38 The silver of our plated ones [sc. spoons] having feloniously made off under cover of the whitening brush.
1826 J. Galt Last of Lairds xxxiv. 304 Jenny..was..whitewashing the lintels of the lower windows with an old hearth-brush; her whitening-pot was a handless and cripple tureen.
1856 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. II. 864 The remarkable whitening power which nickel exerts on brass.
1886 Carroll (Georgia) Free Press 29 Jan. 4/1 A tablespoon of turpentine boiled with white clothes will greatly aid the whitening process.
1921 Indiana Farmer's Guide 26 Mar. 18 Cream of tartar is an excellent whitening agent.
1960 G. E. Evans Horse in Furrow v. 70 The making of whitening rolls or balls from chalk..used for decorating cottages.
1975 J. W. S. Judge tr. R. Mellafe Negro Slavery in Lat. Amer. i. 27 The upper levels of the social pyramid were becoming more..mixed with mestizo or Indian blood. This had a whitening effect.
1987 I. Shah Darkest Eng. xxxvi. 333 Mary scraped the black marble doorstep with the whitening stone.
2013 Q. A. Acton Dentifrices 1 The whitening toothpaste..showed similar color alteration as conventional toothpaste after a 12-week treatment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
whiteningadj.
/ˈwʌɪtnɪŋ/, /ˈwʌɪtn̩ɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈ(h)waɪtn̩ɪŋ/, /ˈ(h)waɪtnɪŋ/ That whitens; that is becoming or turning white.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > white or whiteness > whitening > [adjective]
whitening1559
1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 209 A whitening water.
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper ii. 143 The bleaching, whitening,..cleansing quality of Christs blood.
1648 J. Beaumont Psyche vii. lv. 100 Made not by scorching, but by whitening Light.
1704 A. Pope Spring in Wks. (1736) I. 29 Two Swains..Pour'd o'er the whitening vale their fleecy care.
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence ii. xxxi. 56 The whitening snows Of venerable eld.
1821 W. Scott Pirate III. x. 233 My whitening bones will swing in the gibbet-irons.
1859 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 11 Mar. in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) 507 The marks of..coming age, in many a whitening hair.
1902 J. Buchan Watcher by Threshold i. 88 My whitening face must have told them a tale.
1971 B. Patten Irrelevant Song 27 Quick as the autumn marigold Skates the borders of whitening grass.
2011 W. Ryan Bloody Meadow (2012) ii. 13 Pushing down, staring at his whitening knuckles, knowing that this was the only way he could stop his hands shaking.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1576
adj.1559