white
/wʌɪt
/- I smiled at my reflection and my pearly white teeth were visible and stood out from my tanned face.
- Brighten up a plain white bathroom with these fresh colours from Dulux.
- He was wearing a black jacket with white reflection marks, dark blue jeans and trainers.
Synonyms
- Cautiously, he rolled her over to find her face pale, deathly white, and covered with blood.
- White scars stood prominently out against her tanned skin.
- Kay's face turned pale white, so white that she looked like a ghost.
Synonyms
- She leaned against one of the white cherry blossom trees and began to hum to herself.
- Hanging in garlands on the sides of the tables, trees, and the fountain were white lilies.
- I sighed deeply and took a seat on the grass, bracing next to a tall white oak tree.
- The fifth biggest tree in the east is the famous white oak at Wye Mills, Maryland.
- This is achieved by pressing the red grapes rapidly to produce white wine without a trace of colour.
- It has become a bit famous in recent years for its white wines, especially chenin blanc.
- We drank flat white coffees, and Ray noticed me looking at the blurry blue tattoo on his forearm.
- She was still smiling when she carried the two white coffees up the rickety wooden stairs.
- Nihan pointed out a popular dish where a raw egg is mixed with hot white rice and soy sauce.
- I snack on tons of Inarizushi - it's white rice stuffed inside sweetened tofu wrapping.
- A generous front in white glass curves out to form porches for the two main entrance doors.
- In the middle there lay a small table, with a cloudy white glass sphere in the middle.
- In the colonial context, the camera wielded by white Europeans was an intrusive weapon of domination.
- Two of the survivors are white European and the rest are mainland Chinese nationals.
- Most participants were white Europeans who were being treated by their general practitioner.
Synonyms
- Her literary debut, The Grass Is Singing, exposed the moral bankruptcy of the white settler culture.
- Black nationalism was centered on blackness and saw no value in white culture and religion.
- We black people like to think of ourselves as somehow outside of mainstream white culture.
- Instead they decided to defer the matter to give the park time to change the colour scheme to all white to make it look less conspicuous.
- Shocking half-page pictures in colour and black and white underline the story throughout.
- My husband said ‘no’ because we've got to stick to the club colours of black and white.
- Hundreds of people dressed in the traditional white with red scarves take part in each run.
- She wore a newly fashioned gown of shimmering white, a delicate veil and a golden circlet.
- Upon the terrace was a beautiful woman, garbed in a flowing silk gown of glowing white.
- A daring university student dressed in cricket whites, pads and a helmet gave an innovative spin to the concept of pitch invasion.
- The foundation provided him with new cricket whites, boots, gloves, pads, anew bat, a helmet, six balls and a cricket bag.
- Americans, in fact, could have ended up staying in striped caps and cricket whites.
- The main varietals in Chile are Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc for whites and Cabernet, Merlot and Carmenere for reds.
- Semillon brings a lush texture to dry whites while Sauvignon Blanc brings an herbal raciness - a terrific combination.
- This honeyed, concentrated, sweet and sour style white is perfect with this dish.
- The conjunctiva is a thin lining that covers the whites of the eyes and the insides of the eyelids.
- His eyes, though still inhumanly brilliant, bore smaller irises and more pronounced whites - just like Arun's own.
- The whole thing is then cooked again to harden the whites around the yolk.
- Crispy fried noodle threads and minced peppers add crunch; sieved egg yolks and whites add softness.
- Unlike whites and members of other ethnic groups, blacks who live in the suburbs are far wealthier than their city brethren.
- Wisdom teeth problems are more common among European whites compared to Orientals and blacks.
- Pieris and other genera, family Pieridae. See also cabbage white.
Usage
The term white has been used to refer to the skin colour of Europeans or people of European extraction since the early 17th century. Unlike other labels for skin colour such as red or yellow, white has not been generally used in a derogatory way. In modern contexts there is a growing tendency to prefer to use terms which relate to geographical origin rather than skin colour: hence the current preference in the US for African American rather than black and European rather than white.
Phrases
whited sepulchre
white man's burden
whiter than white
Phrasal verbs
white out
white something out
Derivatives
whitely
- A long, wide car has pulled up in the driveway, a face peering whitely from its passenger window.
- You can see the Parthenon from anywhere in Athens, gleaming whitely on the Acropolis.
- Its whitely gleaming limestone façade was smoothly intact, an awesome sight unseen since the dawn of recorded history.
whitish
/ adjective ...- Add the prawn cutlets and toss until they are just sealed and turn a whitish pink colour.
- Indonesians cultivate it as a garden vegetable and recognize numerous forms, including a large whitish one and smaller green ones.
- Pseudopollen is a mealy material, usually whitish or yellowish in colour, which superficially resembles pollen.
Origin
Late Old English hwīt, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch wit and German weiss, also to wheat.
The Old English word white, related to wheat, is used in many English phrases. A white elephant is a useless or unwanted possession, especially one that's expensive to maintain. The originals were real albino animals regarded as holy in some Asian countries, especially Siam (present-day Thailand). The story goes that it was the custom for a king of Siam to give one of these elephants to a courtier he particularly disliked: the unfortunate recipient could neither refuse the gift nor give it away later for fear of causing offence, and would end up financially ruined by the costs of looking after the animal. A whited sepulchre is a hypocrite. The phrase comes from Jesus's condemnation of the Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew: he likens them to whited sepulchres, or whitewashed tombs, ‘which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mens' bones, and of all uncleanness’. The white heat of technology is a phrase usually credited to Harold Wilson. What he actually said in a 1963 speech was, ‘The Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods on either side of industry.’ The white man's burden, the task of imposing Western civilization on the inhabitants of colonies, comes from a poem by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1899. Called ‘The White Man's Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands’, it urged the USA to take up the burden of empire following its acquisition of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. The festival Whit Sunday or Whitsuntide also comes from white. It is a reference to the white robes worn by early Christians who were baptized at this time. White feather (late 18th century) as a sign of cowardice refers to a white feather in the tail of a fighting cock, seen as a sign of bad breeding. White-knuckle ride [1970s] refers to the effect caused by gripping tightly to side rails of a fairground ride. See also blackmail, blue
Rhymes
- light rum
- lights
- lightsaber
- lightsabre
- light scoop
- light-sensitive
- lightship
- light show
- light-skinned
- lightsome
- lightsomely
- lightsomeness
- lights out
- light speed
- light stick
- light switch
- light table
- light the fuse
- light the (or a) fuse
- light-toned
- light tower
- light trap
- light up
- light vessel
- light water