White v.¹

(Also 4–6 whitt-, whytt-.) [OE. hwítian, f. hwít WHITE a. Cf. OHG., MHG. wîȥen, (G. weissen), Goth. hweitjan.]

  † 1.  intr. To become white: = WHITEN v. 2. Obs.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxxiv. 113. Hwæs blod readaþ on rosan ʓelicnysse, and hwæs lichama hwitað on lilian fæʓernysse.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 150. Þe bouh, hwon he adeadeð, he hwiteð wiðuten.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, V. 276. Ful pale y-woxen was þe moone And whiten gan the Orisonte shene Al Estward.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xl. (Bodl. MS.). In wynter … alle þinge whiteþ bi colde and bi froste.

1471.  Ripley, Comp. Alch., VI. viii. in Ashmole (1652), 163. Drynes procedyth as Whytyth the matter.

  † 2.  trans. To make white: = WHITEN v. 1. Obs.

a. 1000.  Rhyming Poem, ii. 62 (Grein III. 1. 162). Flan man hwiteð.

c. 1325.  Pol. Songs (Camden), 336. Be the hond i-whited, it shal go god i-nouh.

1340.  Ayenb., 178. Ase þet line cloþ þet is y-huyted be ofte wessinge.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. xxiii. (Bodl. MS.). Colde … blakkeþ dry substaunce & whitch moiste substaunce.

1538.  Fitzherb., Just. Peas, 118 b. Euerie person that vsith the occupacyon of making of tyles, shall make them good and able and throughly whyted.

1561.  Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc., 230. They haue washed and whited their garmentes in the bloud of the Lambe.

1568.  Hacket, trans. Thevet’s New found World, vii. 10 b. Milke … is but bloud whitted in y^e dug.

1599.  B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., III. v. Your Passion hath sufficiently whited your Face.

1649.  Lanc. Tracts Civil War (Chetham Soc.), 234. Who can white a Blackmore?

1721.  E. Ward, Merry Trav., I. (1729), 16. No yellow Fowl, or stale one, green, Can ever in his Shop be seen, Because he puts in use a strange Device, to white ’em when they change.

  b.  spec. To cover or coat with white; to whitewash; also fig.: = WHITEN v. 1 b, d. Now rare.

c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 15. Mannes þruh, þe is wiðuten ihwited, and wiðinne stinkende.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. III. 61. I shal keure ȝowre kirke … Wowes do whitten.

c. 1430.  Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. cxxii. (1869), 121. As the snow embelisheth and whiteth a dong hop with oute.

1534–5.  MS. Rawl. D. 777, lf. 72 b. Pargyttyng and whyttyng the Stayers.

1572.  Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 149. For lyme, to make an end of whittinge the churche.

1599.  Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 23. A farthing worth of flower to white him ouer and wamble him in.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Bloody Brother, IV. i. Thou … Whit’st over all his vices.

1631.  Widdowes, Nat. Philos., 25. As it were Lead whited with silver.

1777.  Brand, Pop. Antiq., 270, note. At Oxford, at this Time, the little Crosses cut in the Stones of Buildings, to denote the Division of the Parishes, are whited with Chalk.

1823.  Scott, Quentin D., xxviii. When he had thus cleared his conscience, or rather whited it over like a sepulchre.

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 235. The ceilings…, as well as the pediment in front of the house, to be lath laid, set, and whited.

  Proverb.  1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 373. That at anes, as vses to be said, tha wil quhite tua walis.

1629.  H. Burton, Babel no Bethel, Pref. Ep. 19. I doe in this Booke … as the Proverbe is, white two walls with one brush.

  † c.  To bleach; to blanch: = WHITEN v. 1 c.

1530.  Palsgr., 457/1. I bleche, I whyte clothe.

1541.  Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 15 § 1. The said lynnen yarne must lye w^toute … for … one half yere to be whyted.

1611.  Bible, Mark ix. 3. His raiment became … exceeding white as snow: so as no Fuller on earth can white them.

1658.  Evelyn, Fr. Gard. (1675), 208. The manner of whiting it [sc. lettuce] under earthen pots.

1714.  Fr. Bk. of Rates, 128. Wax, bleached or whited in Foreign Parts, and imported.

  d.  pa. pple. Of a horse: see quot. 1737.

1737.  Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 5. He is … called well Whited if his Hinder Feet be both White.

1760.  Heber, Horse Matches, ix. 147. He is a compleat strong horse, well whited.

1870.  Daily News, 6 June, 6/1. Mr. Robson’s His Majesty, in addition to being badly ‘whited,’ had unpleasing action.

  e.  Printing. To space out (matter) with ‘white.’

1892.  A. Oldfield, Man. Typogr., i. 15. Reglets for whiting out bills and placards are made of wood.