purple

Etymology

From Middle English purple, purpel, purpur, from Old English purple, purpuren (“purple”), taken from Latin purpura (“purple dye, shellfish”), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple fish”), perhaps of Semitic origin. Doublet of purpura.

noun

1. A color that is a dark blend of red and blue; dark magenta.
   purple:
   bright purple:
2. (colour theory) Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a colour wheel between violet and red.
3. Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple robe or mantle worn by Ancient Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity.
   to put on the imperial purple
4. (by extension) Imperial power, because the colour purple was worn by emperors and kings.
   1776-1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire He was born in the purple.
   The immediate successors of Augustus indulged in appalling cruelties towards senators and towards possible competitors for the purple. 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.29
5. Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk.
6. The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana.
   Sure, some purple Owlsley. 2005, Tipi Paul, Wanna Smoke?: The Adventures of a Storyteller, page 14
   “Purple smoke is no joke. Especially when it is real purple. The smell, taste, and high is easily one of the best in the world. One bowl of some purple Kush, and I'm done for a couple of hours. 2010, Mark Arax, West of the West, page 221
   She preferred to smoke some good purple, but getting high wasn't an option. 2011, Danielle Santiago, Allure of the Game, page 148
7. (medicine) Purpura.
8. Earcockle, a disease of wheat.
9. Any of the species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis).
   the banded purple
10. A cardinalate.
11. (slang, US) Ellipsis of purple drank.
    Fishtailing out the parking lot leaving Magic / Sipping on the purple and the yellow, drinking magic 2012, “Magic”, in Pluto, performed by Future ft. T.I.
12. (UK, slang) Synonym of snakebite and black.

adj

1. Having a colour/color that is a dark blend of red and blue.
2. (US politics) Not predominantly red or blue, but having a mixture of Democrat and Republican support.
   purple state
   purple city
   In the end, Nevada remained the quintessential purple state. On the maps that television used to illustrate political trends, Republican states were red and Democratic blue. Nevada blended the colors. It had a bright blue core in the heart of Las Vegas, surrounded by a purple suburban belt. Most of the rest of the state was bright red, especially in the rural counties. 2010, Hal K. Rothman, The Making of Modern Nevada, University of Nevada Press, page 162
   As Mr. Friedlander conceived it, Reason was neither strictly right-wing libertarian nor strictly left — in modern parlance, neither red nor blue but a purple amalgam of the two. 2011-05-07, Margalit Fox, “Lanny Friedlander, Founder of Reason Magazine, Dies at 63”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
   Political colorists can be promiscuous in calling states purple, but my state is true to that hue. I speak of North Carolina, and I have receipts: While our junior senator, Ted Budd, is a Republican who won election to a first term in 2022 by about three percentage points, our governor, Roy Cooper, is a Democrat who won election to a second term in 2020 by more than four. 2023-05-04, Frank Bruni, “Republicans Are Running Wild in My State”, in The New York Times
3. (in Netherlands and Belgium) Mixed between social democrats and liberals.
4. Imperial; regal.
5. Blood-red; bloody.
6. (of language) Extravagantly ornate, like purple prose.
7. (motor racing, of a sector, lap, etc.) Completed in the fastest time so far in a given session.

verb

1. (intransitive) To turn purple in colour.
   [T]he Capri cliffs, the tops of which were still pink against the purpling sky. 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 143
   The gang leader purpled and raised his gun. 1999, David Edelstein, In Nomine: Corporeal Player's Guide, Steve Jackson Games,, page 8
2. (transitive) To dye purple.
3. (transitive) To clothe in purple.