释义 |
yel·low I. \ˈye](ˌ)lō, ]lə; ]ləw or ]lō+V; dial or NewEng & Brit +V ]lər; dial ˈya] (but ˈyalə(r) often occurs in standard speech when “high” precedes\ adjective (-er/-est) Etymology: Middle English yelwe, yelow, yalow, from Old English geolu; akin to Old High German gelo yellow, Old Norse gulr yellow, Old Irish gel white, Latin helvus light bay, Greek chlōros greenish yellow, Sanskrit hari yellowish, greenish; basic meaning: shimmer, glow 1. a. : of the color yellow : of a color of the hue of sulfur or of a hue somewhat less red than that of gold b. : changed to a yellow hue through age, disease (as jaundice), or discoloration : yellowed, sallow < yellow parchment > < yellow skin > c. : having a yellow or mulatto complexion or skin < immigration of Orientals raised a false specter of the peril of the yellow races > < having had a white father, he is known as a yellow Negro > < the yellow girl stopped — R.P.Warren > 2. archaic : affected with envy : jaundiced, jealous 3. a. : gaining or holding interest by printing or headlining sensational or scandalous items or ordinary news sensationally distorted < tempers might have subsided altogether had not a yellow newspaper … exhorted the soldiers to stand for their rights — Dixon Wecter > < the same technique of sensationalism that had lured new readers to the yellow journals — H.L.Smith b. 1906 > < set his newspaper off sharply from the yellow journalism of morbid sensationalism which flowered … at the turn of the century — F.L.Mott > b. : mean, dishonorable, cowardly < the little yellow stain of treason — M.W.Straight > < is too yellow to stand up and fight > < has a pronounced yellow streak > II. verb (-ed/-ing/-s) transitive verb : to make or turn yellow : cause to have a yellow tinge or color < old clothes and papers that time and neglect have yellowed > < wild daffodils were yellowing the grassy slopes — Victoria Sackville-West > < the sun yellows the meadow > intransitive verb : to become or turn yellow < I let my tobacco yellow for about a week — Caroline Gordon > < the leaves yellow in the fall > III. noun (-s) Etymology: Middle English yelow, yalow, from yelow, yalow yellow (adjective) 1. a. : a color whose hue resembles that of ripe lemons or sunflowers or is that of the portion of the spectrum lying between green and orange b. : the one of the four psychologically primary hues that is evoked in the normal observer under normal conditions by radiant energy of the wavelength 580 millimicrons c. : one of the six psychologically primary object colors — compare primary 4a d. : one of the subtractive primaries e. : a pigment or dye that colors yellow 2. : something that is yellow or is chiefly distinguished by a yellow color: as a. : a person having yellow skin < had engaged blacks, browns, yellows about equally — Frances Gaither > b. : sulphur II c. : the yolk of an egg d. : yellow sponge 3. yellows plural : jaundice, weil's disease 4. yellows plural : any of several plants: as a. : yellow lady's-slipper b. : crambling rocket 5. yellows plural : any of several plant diseases (as of aster, celery, or peach) caused by fungi, bacteria, malnutrition, or especially by viruses and characterized by yellowing of the foliage and stunting |