white

Etymology

From Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”). See also West Frisian wyt, Dutch wit, German weiß, Norwegian Bokmål hvit, Norwegian Nynorsk kvit; also Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”), Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”), Persian سفید (sefid), Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”), Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”).

adj

1. Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
   Write in black ink on white paper.
   white as the whitest lily on a stream. c. 1878, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Holidays
2. (sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to Europeans or those of European descent, regardless if their skin has cool or warm undertones.
3. (sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to Caucasians (3rd defintion).
   […]more white corporations cognizant of the mounting purchasing power of the Negro consumer, have Negro representatives in the field[…]. 1949, Wendell P. Alston, “The Green Book”, in The Negro Motorist Green Book, New York: Victor H. Green, published 1949, page 3
   Ms. Ringwald finds a few things about these films regrettable. One thing she found "significantly disturbing," she wrote, "was how white the films are." 2004-05-09, Michael Joseph Gross, “When the Losers Ruled in Teenage Movies”, in New York Times
4. (sometimes capitalized) By USCB definition, people hailing from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
5. (chiefly historical) Designated for use by Caucasians.
   white drinking fountain
   white hospital
6. Relatively light or pale in colour.
   white wine
   white grapes
   white birch
7. Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
8. (of a person or skin) Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.
9. (of an animal) Affected by leucism.
10. (of coffee or tea) Containing cream, milk, or creamer.
11. (board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.
    The white pieces in this set are in fact made of light green glass.
12. Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.
13. Honourable, fair; decent.
    No whiter page than Addison's remains. / He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth, / And sets the passions on the side of Truth, 1737, Alexander Pope, First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 194
    “I’ll put you down at my club; and then, the governor will want to see you in the country.” / Jim had no idea of what was involved in being put down at a club, but he consented. “That ’s mighty white of you, old man, but I don’t know where I shall make down.” 1901, Hamlin Garland, Her Mountain Lover, page 51
    He's a fine fellow, this Gabriel Stanton, a white man all through 1916, Julia Frankau, Twilight
    ‘We've only met twice and you've been more than white to me both times.’ 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin, published 2010, page 12
    Even decency has been regarded as a white or Christian attribute, as is evidenced by the expression "that's very white of you" 1976, United Church of Christ, A.D., number 1, page 34
14. Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.
15. (archaic) Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.
16. (obsolete) Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.
    I am his white boy, and will not be gulled. c. 1626, John Ford, Tis Pity She's a Whore
17. (politics) Pertaining to constitutional or anti-revolutionary political parties or movements.
    Aimée de Coigny had always adopted with enthusiasm the political views of her ruling lover and she had thus already held nearly every shade of opinion from red republicanism to white reaction. 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 163
18. (of tea) Made from immature leaves and shoots.
    Most often consisting of a budset pluck, a frost tea has the clarity and freshness of a white tea, with the richness and lingering finish of a finely crafted black tea. 2012, Mary Lou Heiss, Robert J. Heiss, The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook
19. (typography) Not containing characters; see white space.
20. (typography) Said of a symbol or character outline, not solid, not filled with color. Compare black (“said of a character or symbol filled with color”).
    Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; ☛ = "BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX"
21. Characterised by the presence of snow.
    a white Christmas
    a white Easter
22. (of a set of armor) Alwhite, pertaining to white armor.
    For instance, tyro jousters in fifteenth-century Iberia wore “white armor,” while experienced men wore surcoats over their harness (Fallows 2010, 80), while fabric-covered breastplates are depicted in many examples of fifteenth-century northern European art. 2015-08-31, Albrecht Classen, Handbook of Medieval Culture, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

noun

1. The color/colour of snow or milk; the colour of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
   Not only were the platforms tiled in white, the tunnels were painted white too - to prettify them, and make them less claustrophobic - and the Central proudly issued a postcard of its tunnel-whitening machine. 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, page 117
2. A person of European descent with light-coloured skin.
   The War on Drugs proved popular among key white voters, particularly whites who remained resentful of black progress, civil rights enforcement, and affirmative action. 2012, Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, page 54
3. Any butterfly of the subfamily Pierinae in the family Pieridae.
4. (countable and uncountable) White wine.
   A bottle of red, a bottle of white / It all depends upon your appetite / I'll meet you any time you want / In our Italian Restaurant. 1977, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, in Billy Joel (music), The Stranger
   Those were my first impressions of wine: Ladies drink chilled, soft white while they gossip in the kitchen; old men drink strong, room-temperature red to get shellacked. 2014, Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard
5. (countable and uncountable) White coffee
6. (countable) Any object or substance that is of the color white.
   1. The albumen of bird eggs (egg white).
   2. (anatomy) The sclera, white of the eye.
   3. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The cue ball in cue games.
   4. (slang, US, UK) Cocaine
      I've got to hit the streets; I've got to move this white. 2004, “On The Run”, Kanye West (music), performed by Bump J (featuring Rick James), Atlantic
      TYLER LENNON(played by Louis Healy): Ten grand a week we were clearing: base, white, meth, weed, anything. I can get you anything to get you high. 2019-01-20, Ann Cleeves, Paul Matthew Thompson, 1:26:51 from the start, in Lawrence Gough, director, Vera(Cuckoo) (9), episode 2 (TV series), spoken by Tyler Lennon (Louis Healy)
   5. The snow- or ice-covered "green" in snow golf.
   6. A white pigment.
      Venice white
   7. A white bean
      Nearly two-thirds of the Idaho crop has been great northerns, one-sixth small reds, and the remainder small flat whites and pintos and seed for snap beans and baby limas (table 21). 1952, Columbia River and Tributaries, Northwestern United States, United States Government Printing Office, page 3764
7. (archery) The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.
8. The enclosed part of a letter of the alphabet, especially when handwritten.
   Also it giueth a great grace to your writing, if the whites of certeine letters bee made of one equall bignesse with the o. supposing the same were all round, as the white of the b. of the a. p. y. v. w. x. q. d. g. and s. 1594, Hugh Plat, chapter 38, in The Jewell House of Art and Nature, London, page 42
   […] the a. b. d. g. o. p. q. &c. […] must be made with equal whites. 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, page 18
   She copied the whole alphabet like that, as though only the inside whites of the letters registered on her mind. 1931, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in Police at the Funeral, Penguin, published 1939, page 157
9. A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.
   3.—Wing-Quills or Remiges; Whites and Feminas.—The wing-quills are the largest feathers in the wing, and are arranged in a single row. They include the “Whites” in the cock, and the “Feminas” in the hen, as well as the “Byocks” or “Fancies” in the cock. 1909, Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope, page 514
   The usual kinds of ostrich feathers known to the trade come into the Tripoli market. These are whites, blacks, feminas, byocks, spadonas, boos, drabs and floss. 12 August 1909, “Ostrich Feathers of Tripoli”, in Neenah Daily Times, volume 53, number 8,451, Neenah, Wis., Menasha, Wis., column 5
   Whites, primes, pound, $120 to $300[…]The whites and blacks come from the male birds, the feminas and drabs from the female, the spadones are the first clipping taken from the young birds and the tails from each. 30 October 1910, The Arizona Republican, volume XXI, number 161, Phoenix, Ariz., page 9
   This parcel included 286 lbs. of feathers known as whites, and 211 lbs. of feathers known as feminas. The whites are described as lot 12, and the feminas as lot 13. 1923, South African Law Reports. Cape Provincial Division: Decisions of the Supreme Court of South Africa (Cape of Good Hope Provincial Decision)., page 532
10. (board games, chess) The person playing with the white set of pieces.
    In this position, white has an opportunity to make a good move.