Forms: 1 blæc (def. blace), 1–4 blac, 2–6 blake, 3–5 blak, 5 blaak(e, 4–7 blacke, 5– black. [OE. blæc, blac (def. blace) = OHG. blah-, blach- in comb.); a word of difficult history. In OE., found also (as the metres show) with long vowel blāce, blācan, and thus confused with blác shining, white:—OTeut. *blaiko- (see BLAKE), as is shown by the fact that the latter also occurs with short vowel, blăc, blăcum; in ME. the two words are often distinguishable only by the context, and sometimes not by that. (Cf. ¶ 7.) ON. blakkr is not an exact phonetic equivalent, but, if native, points to an OTeut. *blakko- (for blakno·: see Kluge Beitr. ix. 162). Sievers suggests that the original Teutonic types were *blǽ·kno-, *blakko·-, subsequently levelled to blǽko-, blako-, blakko-, giving the OE. and ON. words; in this case *blǽk-no- might be pa. pple. of a vb. *blǽkan to burn (cogn. w. Gr. φλέγειν), and the original sense ‘burnt, scorched.’ Cf. BLATCH, which points to an OTeut. *blakkjo-, from blakko-. In Eng. black has quite displaced the original color-word SWART, which remains in the other Teutonic languages.]
I. literal. The proper word for a certain quality practically classed among colors, but consisting optically in the total absence of color, due to the absence or total absorption of light, as its opposite white arises from the reflection of all the rays of light.
1. As a color pertaining to objects, even in full light: Absorbing all light; ‘of the colour of night’ (J.); ‘of the colour of soot or coal’; ‘of the darkest possible hue’; swart. (Perfect blackness being a rare attribute of objects, those from the surface of which very little light is reflected are commonly called black.)
Beowulf, 3606. Hrefn blaca heofenes wynne.
c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, II. xvi. (Bosw.). He hæfde blæc feax, and blacne andwlitan.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., vi. 12. Niger coruus, blac hrem.
c. 1205. Lay., 17699. Ane blake claðe.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 6259. Al blak so colebrond.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2461. Þan lai he þar so blac so pych.
1382. Wyclif, Song Sol. v. 11. Blac [1388 blake] as a crowe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 38. Blak, niger, ater.
c. 1440. York Myst., xlviii. 143. In helle to dwelle with feendes blake.
1536. Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 51. Hattes of blake velwett and whyte feethers.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 266. To look like her are Chimney-sweepers blacke.
1611. Bible, Matt. v. 36. Thou canst not make one haire white or blacke.
1674. R. Godfrey, Inj. & Ab. Physic, 7. She had been in the black Box (meaning the Coffin) e’re now.
1710. J. Clarke, Rohault’s Physique (1729), I. 223. The Black Body … absorbs and choaks all the Rays.
1807. Robinson, Archæol. Græca, V. v. 425. They put on mourning garments, which were always black.
1842. Tennyson, Gardener’s D., 28. That hair More black than ashbuds in the front of March.
1885. Ld. Blackburn, in Times, 23 July, 9/5. It has been observed … that no number of black rabbits would ever make a black horse.
b. Of a very dark color closely approaching black.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum, 7. Take black sugur for mener menne.
1718. Pope, Iliad, I. 608. The priest himself … Pours the black wine.
1853. C. Knight, Once upon a Time (1859), 417. On every road-side was what was familiarly termed ‘the black ditch.’ In every alley was a lesser black ditch.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, i. 3. The blackest of port-wine.
c. Having an extremely dark skin; strictly applied to negroes and negritos, and other dark-skinned races; often, loosely, to non-European races, little darker than many Europeans.
890. [see 1].
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 234. Blac as a bloamon.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 10. Muchele del blaccre þen euer eni blamon.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2785. Among þe Sarsynz blake.
1553. Eden, Treat. New Ind. (Arb.), 14. The bodyes of men begin to waxe blacke and to be scorched.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., V. ii. 12. Blacke men are Pearles, in beauteous Ladies eyes.
1666–7. Pepys, Diary, 27 Jan. Her little black boy came by him.
1782. India Gaz., 30 March (Y.). The black officers … were drummed out of the cantonments.
1842. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, 24. Forrest says the Pappua Caffres are as black as the Caffres of Africa.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 141. The ‘old Ab’ was manned by one black boy, sixty years old.
d. fig. Of or pertaining to the negro race.
1852. T. Hughes, in J. Ludlow’s Hist. U. S., 342. The ‘black law,’ by which coloured people were excluded from the territory.
1885. R. L. & F. Stevenson, Dynamiter, 152. The black blood that I now knew to circulate in my veins.
2. With the names of various objects prefixed, by way of comparison, as coal-, jet-, pitch-, raven-black.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., cxxvii. My mistress eyes are raven-black.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4782/4. Stolen or stray’d … a cole black Horse.
1771. P. Parsons, Newmarket, II. 89. On his head, observe the jett-black glossy velvet cap.
3. Characterized in some way by this color.
a. Having black hair; dark-complexioned. (Cf. the surnames Black, Blackie.) arch. or Obs.
a. 1067. Chart. Eadweard, in Cod. Dipl., IV. 242. And Ælfwynes ʓherde ðe blake.
c. 1190. Vita S. Godrici, § 510 (1845), 417. Mulier pedissequa … cognomento Blache, id est Nigri, mercenaria.
c. 1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIX. 556. I dred me sair for the blak dowglass.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 133. How if she be Blacke and Witty?
1661. Pepys, Diary, 30 April. Took up Mr. Hater and his wife … I found her to be a very pretty, modest, black woman.
1715. R. Nelson, A Kempis’ Chr. Exerc., vii. 13. The Fair, the Black, the Learned, the Unlearned, do all pass away.
1815. Hist. Univ. Camb., I. 144. The portrait in the Master’s lodge represents him as a handsome black man.
b. Wearing black clothing, armor, etc.
1298. [see BLACK MONK].
c. 1305. Edmund Conf., 184, in E. E. P. Blake monekes he seȝ, As hit crowen and choȝen were.
a. 1400. Sir Perc., 49. The rede kynghte ne the blake.
1750. Carte, Hist. Eng., II. 73. Clement … retained only 200 horse and 2000 foot of the black bands so called from their being clad in mourning;
1877. Brockett, Cross & Cresc., 154. The black, or monastic clergy.
4. Characterized by absence of light.
a. Enveloped in darkness; dark, dusky, swart.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 81. The blacke winter night.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5359. The blak shadowes.
1595. Shaks., John, V. vi. 17. Heere walke I, in the black brow of night.
1637. Milton, Comus, 61. In thick shelter of black shades imbower’d.
1790. Burns, Tam O’Shanter, 69. That hour, o’ night’s black arch the key stane.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, x. The rain fell fast, and it grew black.
1883. J. Parker, Apost. Life, II. 168. Storms howling down the black chimney in the blacker night.
b. Of deep water, clouds, the clouded sky, etc.: Reflecting and transmitting little light; dark, somber, dusky, gloomy.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., V. ii. 153. Þe nyȝt ne wiþstondeþ nat to hym by þe blake cloudes.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 369. The weder wex than wonder blak.
1611. Bible, 1 Kings xviii. 45. The heauen was blacke with cloudes.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 874. Water of the Sea … looketh Blacker when it is moved, and Whiter when it resteth.
1646. Buck, Rich. III., III. 84. The young Princes were imbarqued in a Ship at Tower wharfe, and conveyed … to Sea, so cast into the Blacke deeps.
1818. Byron, Juan, I. lxxiii. The blackest sky Foretells the heaviest tempest.
5. Deeply stained with dirt; soiled, dirty, foul.
a. 1300. Havelok, 555. In a poke ful and blac.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 1637. But he [i.e., Eolus] Toke out hys blake trumpe of bras That fouler than the Devill was.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. V. 229. Blake flokkes of Scottes [tetri Scotorum greges].
Mod. Proverb. Rhyme. I’d rather have black hands, and plenty of meat, Than never such white ones, and nothing to eat.
6. Black is used in naming varieties or species of animals naturally distinguished by this color, as black bear, beetle, duck, rat; also varieties or species (or what are popularly so considered) of plants characterized by darkness of stem, leaf, etc., as black bindweed, hellebore, parsley, spleenwort, etc. See these and the like under the generic names BEAR, BEETLE, BINDWEED, HELLEBORE, etc.
¶ 7. In ME. it is often doubtful whether blac, blak, blake, means ‘black, dark,’ or ‘pale, colorless, wan, livid’ = OE. blác; see farther under BLAKE.
c. 1205. Lay., 19890. Ænne stunde he wes blac; and on heuwe swiðe wak. Ane while he wes reod.
a. 1240. Sawles Warde, in Cott. Hom., 249. His leoc deaðliche ant blac and elheowet.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 747. I am bot erþe ful euel, & vsle so blake.
c. 1330. Roland & V., 434. [Charlemagne was] of a stern sight, Blac of here and rede of face. [He had ‘la chevelure belle’ (Martin, from Eginhard.)]
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., ix. Alle bare was the body, and blak by the bone.
II. fig.
8. Having dark or deadly purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving death, deadly; baneful, disastrous, sinister.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 22. Many a black curse haue they of the poore commons for their doing.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. iv. 56. That black Name, Edward, black Prince of Wales.
1640. Habington, Castara, II. II. xxxii. The blacke edict of a tyrant grave. Ibid., II. II. xi. By Fate rob’d even of that blacke victory.
1713. Steele, Guardian, No. 18, ¶ 1. Think it madness to be unprepar’d against the black moment.
1758. H. Walpole, Catal. R. Authors (1759), I. 142. The throne … usurped by the Queen’s black enemy, Philip.
1821. Byron, Sardan., V. i. 195. That’s a black angury!
9. Foul, iniquitous, atrocious, horribly wicked.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren. (1588), App. You wil haue a blacke soule … if you doe not the sooner forsake the Queene … and her heresies.
1592. Greene, Groatsw. Wit (1617), 33. Black is the remembrance of my blacke works.
c. 1600. J. Davies, in Farr’s S. P., I. 255. Red Seas to drowne our blacke Egyptian Sins.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., 23. The portion of the blackest criminals.
1713. S. Pycroft, Free-thinking, 25. He has vented the blackest Calumnies.
1738. A. M’Aulay, in Swift’s Lett., clix. I shall never be guilty of such black ingratitude.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XVII. vii. Concealing facts of the blackest dye.
1839. Bailey, Festus, v. Die with the black lie flapping on your lips.
10. Clouded with sorrow or melancholy; dismal, gloomy, sad.
1659. Hammond, On Ps. xlii. 9. What a black gloomy condition am I now in?
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time (1766), II. 234. He had also very black fits of the spleen.
1809. J. Barlow, Columb., I. 16. The slow, still march of black despair.
b. Of the countenance, the ‘look’ of things, prospects: Clouded with anger, frowning; threatening, boding ill; the opposite of bright and hopeful.
1709. Stanhope, Paraphr., IV. 190. When the Face of affairs looked blackest and no glimpse of Comfort appeared.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Each & All, ii. 25. His countenance was black as night.
1840. E. Elliott, Corn-Law Rhymes, 119. The crew will no longer regard my child with black looks.
c. Hence To look black: to frown, to look angrily (at or upon a person).
1814. Miss Austen, Mansf. Park (1870), I. vi. 50. My brother-in-law … looked rather black upon me.
1855. Thackeray, Rose & Ring, xv. Black as thunder looked King Padella at this proud noble.
1855. Browning, Fra Lippo. The monks looked black.
11. Indicating disgrace, censure, liability to punishment, etc. Cf. BLACK BOOKS, BLACK LIST, etc. Often accompanied by some symbol actually black, as in quot. 1840.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 286. To punish by a note, which may be called, the Black Bill.
c. 1830. A. Picken, Chang. Charlie. When mounted … on the top of the black stool, he seemed … delighted.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, viii. Write Curzon down, Denounced … Put a black cross against the name of Curzon.
III. Phrases and combinations.
12. Phrases. To say black is anyone’s eye (eyebrow, nail, etc.): to find fault with, to lay anything to his charge (? obs.) Black in the face: having the face made dark crimson or purple by strangulation, passion, or strenuous and violent effort.
1528. Roy, Sat. (1845). They eate their belies full … And none sayth blacke is his eye.
1589. Hay any Work, 36. If you were my chaplains once, I trowe John Whitgift … durst not once say blacke to your eies.
1675. Brooks, Gold. Key, Wks. 1867, V. 250. He knew that the law could not say black was his eye, and that the judge upon the bench would pronounce him righteous.
1720. Vade-mec. Malt-Worms, 11. None can say that black’s his eyebrow to him.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, IX. iv. I defy anybody to say black is my eye.
1789. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Ep. Falling Minist., Wks. 1812, II. 121. Swore himself black in the face.
1828. Carr, Craven Dial., II. 2. ‘Thou cannot say black’s my nail’ … Cui tu nihil dicas vitii. Ter.
1836. Dickens, Pickw., v. Mr. Winkle pulled … till he was black in the face.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind., 67. Though we should boast … till we were black in the face.
13. Black and blue, orig. blak and bla, blak and blo, of which the present form is a corruption arising when blo became obsolete after 1550. The proper black and blae remains in the north, though often supplanted there also by the literary form.
esp. of the human body: Discolored by beating, bruising, or pinching, so as to have black and ‘blue’ or livid bruises: as to beat (any one) black and blue. Also absol.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8073. Four sarzins … Blac and bla [Trin. blak and blo] als led þai war.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 506. Þe leches ben to him y-go, Gy þai finde blaike and blo.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 206. Bett hym blak and bloo.
1552. Huloet, Beaten blacke and bloo, suggilatus.
1563. Hyll, Arte Garden. (1593), 68. The black and blewe of a stripe.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. ii. 942. Flew To rescue Knight from black and blue.
1690. Lond. Gaz., No. 2577/4. His right Eye black and blue with a Blow.
1785. Burns, Twa Herds, xii. Aft hae made us black and blae.
a. 1845. Hood, Happy New Year, xii. He’s come home black and blue from the cane.
14. Black and tan (of a kind of terrier dog): Having black hair upon the back, and tan (yellowish brown) hair upon the face, flanks and legs. Also ellipt. as sb.
1863. Kingsley, Water-Bab., vi. 272. Out jumped a little black and tan terrier dog.
1884. E. L. Bynner, in Harper’s Mag., Aug., 464/2. A jealous little black-and-tan stood by vainly waiting to be noticed.
15. Black and white: a. adj. Having a surface diversified with black and white.
1878. Stevenson, Inl. Voy. Black-and-white cattle fantastically marked.
b. sb. Black characters upon white paper; writing. In († under) black and white: in writing or in print. (Black on white is a fanciful alteration.)
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, V. i. 314. Moreouer sir, which indeede is not vnder white and black, this plaintiffe here … did call me asse.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 136. We stay not till we have gotten it under black and white.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 286, ¶ 3. Give us in Black and White your Opinion in the Matter.
1830. Galt, Lawrie T., IV. x. (1849), 180. A confirmed black and white agreement.
1845. Carlyle, Cromwell (1871), IV. 117. In Authentic black-on-white against them.
1866. W. Collins, Armadale, IV. xv. The whole story of her life, in black and white.
c. Art. (A sketch or drawing in) black or dark tint on white paper, or with white color used.
1885. Athenæum, 21 Feb., 251/1. A small loan exhibition of pictures and drawings in black and white.
16. Often prefixed to other adjectives of color, indicating a blackish shade of the latter, as black-brown, -grey, etc.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 152. Ferrugo, blac purpur.
1462. Test. Ebor., II. 254. Unum equum coloris le blak-gray.
1685. Lond. Gaz., 2037/4. Stolen or strayed … a black-brown Gelding.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, xxvii. (1878), 343. A long low line of blackest green.
1863. Browning, Pippa P., I. Its black-blue canopy seemed let descend.
1877. G. Nevile, Horses, xv. 105. A black-chestnut will clip the same colour he was before.
17. quasi-adv. with an adj., as in black babbling, babbling maliciously, slanderous; black boding, of ill omen, inauspicious; black fasting, enduring a very severe fast; blacklooking, etc.
1624. Quarles, Job (1717), 168. Earths *black-babling daughter (she that hears And vents alike, both truth and forgeries).
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IV. 8. *Black-boding man Receives, not suffers, death’s tremendous blow.
1664. Floddan F., vii. 66. *Black fasting as they were born.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, xvi. To sit for ten hours thegither, *black fasting.
1854. J. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), I. xx. 328. He was a little, *black-looking man.
18. In parasynthetic comb., as black-aproned, -backed, -bearded, -berried, -bodied, -bordered, -capped, -coated, -colo(u)red, -cornered, -edged, favo(u)red, -footed, -gowned, -hafted, -haired, -headed, -hearted, -hilted, -hoofed, -legged, -lipped, -margined, -plumed, -robed, -skinned, -stoled, -throated, -visaged, etc., etc. Most of these are later than 16th c.: their number may be increased indefinitely, and they may have derivatives, as blackheartedness.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 387. For aye consort with *blacke browd night.
1871. E. C. G. Murray, Member for Paris, II. 67. He was swearing friendship to a sort of *black-coated Mephistopheles.
1528. Paynell, Salerne Regim., F iv. *Blacke colered wyne.
1607. Shaks., Timon, V. i. 47. When the day serues, before *blacke-corner’d night.
1865. Miss Yonge, Clever Wom. of Fam., I. i. 5. Hurry to the drawing-room, and tear open the *black-edged letter.
1681. Lond. Gaz., No. 1668/4. A middle siz’d, *Black Favour’d [man].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, VIII. 3780. Telamon truly was a tulke full faire, *Blake horit.
1771. Burke, Powers of Juries, Wks. X. 122. Whether a *black-haired man or a fair-haired man presided in the Court.
1774. G. White, Selborne, xli. 106. The great *black-headed titmouse.
1863. Times, 10 April, 9/3. They … denounced the *‘black-hearted traitors’ of the North, who were worse than the *‘black-hearted miscreants’ of the South, inasmuch as they lacked the courage which the latter possessed.
1871. Morley, Crit. Misc., Ser. I. (1878), 250. Downright malignity and *blackheartedness.
1815. Scott, Ld. of Isles, II. xxii. The *black-stoled brethren.
1860. G. H. K., Vac. Tour, 126. Hearing the hoarse cry of the *black-throated diver.
1631. Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 238. An house of *blacke veyled Nunnes.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4695/3. This William Charlton is a *black visag’d Man.
1628. Feltham, Resolves (1647), 41. Styx, and *black-wav’d Acheron.
19. Specialized comb. (For such as black cattle, black coal, black draught, etc., see CATTLE, COAL, DRAUGHT, etc.) Black-apronry, the wearers of black aprons, the clerical and legal professions; black-band, an earthy carbonate of iron found in the coal measures, and containing coaly matter sufficient for calcining the ore; † black bowl, a drinking bowl; † black canon, a canon regular of St. Augustine; black character = BLACK-LETTER; black-coat, a depreciative term for clergyman, parson; † black-choler, one of the four humours of early physiologists, melancholy; see CHOLER; Black Country, parts of Staffordshire and Warwickshire grimed and blackened by the smoke and dust of the coal and iron trades; black-crop, a crop of peas or beans as opposed to one of corn; black damp, the choke-damp of coal mines: see DAMP; black-fellow, an Australian aboriginal; † black-gown, a collegian or learned man; black-heart, (for black HEART-CHERRY), a dark sort of cultivated cherry; † blackhood, a non-regent member of the senate of the University of Cambridge; † black humour, black choler, melancholy: see HUMOUR; † black literature, that printed in ‘black letter’; black quarter, a disease of cattle (= BLACK-LEG 1); black rent, black mail, an illegal tribute; black-seed, a popular name of the black Medick; black-sole (Sc.) = BLACKFOOT; black strap (or stripe), an inferior kind of port wine, also a mixture of rum and treacle taken as a beverage; black sugar (Sc.), Spanish or Italian (liquorice) juice; Black Watch, the 42nd Highland regiment of the British army (see quot.); black-wort, a popular name of the common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale).
1832. Maginn, in Blackw. Mag., XXXII. 427. The absurd etiquette which prevents [them] from following any profession save the Army, the Navy, *Black-apronry, and Black-leggery.
1857. Page, Adv. Text-bk. Geol., xiv. (1876), 252. Admixture of coaly matter which confers on these *black-bands their especial value.
1863. Smiles, Indust. Biog., 160. The *Black Band ironstone.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., xxix. 136. He never dranke but in a fayre *blacke boule.
1568. Like to Like, in Hazl., Dodsl., III. 324. From morning till night I sit tossing the *black bowl.
a. 1672. Wood, Life (1848), 156. The abbey there, originally built for *Black Canons.
1722. J. Stevens, Addit. Dugdale’s Monast., II. 69. By reason of their black Habit, worn over their white Surplices, generally call’d either *Black Canons, or Canons of St. Augustin.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 177, ¶ 6. Books printed in the *black character.
1627. R. Perrot, Jacob’s Vow, 52. Let us take heed how these *blackcoates get the day of us.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., i. You are the black-coat’s son of Knocktarlitie.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., ix. 197. The black-coats are good company only for black-coats.
1834. J. C. Young, Mem. C. M. Young (1871), 212. In the densely-populated *black country.
1864. Daily Tel., 12 Dec., 5/1. By night the Black Country blazes up lurid and red with fires which, from year’s end to year’s end, are never extinguished.
1831. Tyerman & Bennet, Voy. & Trav., II. xxxvii. 158. In his opinion, the best use which could be made of ‘the *black fellows’ would be, to shoot them all.
1865. Intell. Observ., No. 37. 15. Panther-like approach of the Blackfellow.
1710. Toland, Ref. Sacheverell’s Serm., 12. That great Company of *Black-Gowns, commanded in chief by … Doctor Lancaster.
1833. Tennyson, Blackbird, 7. The unnetted *black hearts ripen dark against the garden wall.
1797. Camb. Univ. Calend., 147. The Non-Regents or *Black-hoods are those who have taken their master of arts’ degree five years or upwards.
1797. Month. Rev., XXII. 345. Multitudinous porers in *black literature.
1879. Wrightson, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 78. Land drainage is … followed by the disappearance of *‘black-quarter,’ or inflammatory fever.
1533. Calend. Carew MSS. (Rolls Ser.), No. 39. The *black rents and tributes which Irishmen by violence have obtained of the King’s subjects.
1612. Sir J. Davies, Why Ireland etc., 179. To abolish the black-rents and tributes exacted by the Irish upon the English colonies.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), III. xviii. 359. The inhabitants … were hardly distinguishable from the Irish, and paid them a tribute called black-rent.
1863. Prior, Plant-n., 24. *Black-seed, the Nonesuch, from its black head of legumes.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., III. iii. This too fond heart o’ mine … a *black-sole true to thee.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, *Black strap, bene carlo wine, also port.
1821. Blackw. Mag., X. Aug., 105/1. What champaigne is to homely black strap, are we when compared with our worthy predecessor.
1823. Lockhart, Reg. Dalton, I. x. 60. Do they give you good black strap at Oxford?
1842. Orderson, Creol., i. 5. The planter being content to … make an evening’s finish with bub or black-strap.
1787. Beattie, Scoticisms, 15. *Black sugar, Licuorice juice.
1864. J. Brown, Plain Wds. Health, v. 76. A bit of black sugar.
1822. D. Stewart, Sk. Highlanders, III. § 1. The 42nd Highland Regiment … was originally known by the name of *Black Watch. It arose from the colour of their dress.
1830. Scott, Tales Grandf., lxxiv. Another measure … was the establishment of independent companies to secure the peace of the Highlands…. *Black soldiers as they were called, to distinguish them from the regular troops, who wore the red national uniform.
1871. P’cess Alice, Mem., 12 Sept. (1884), 273. We did not see the 42nd Highlanders, the ‘*Black Watch,’ to-day.
1597. Gerard, Herbal, II. cclxxiv. It is called … in English, Comfrey … of some Knitbacke, and *Black-woort.
1611. in Cotgr.
