purple

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of a group of colors with a hue between that of violet and red.
• noun Cloth of a color between violet and red, formerly worn as a symbol of royalty or high office.
• noun Imperial power; high rank.
• noun The rank or office of a cardinal.
• noun The rank or office of a bishop.
• adjective Of the color purple.
• adjective Royal or imperial; regal.
• adjective Elaborate and ornate.
• transitive & intransitive verb To make or become purple.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To tinge or stain with purple; impart a purplish hue to.
• To become purple; assume a purplish hue.
• noun A color formed by the mixture of blue and red, including the violet of the spectrum above wave-length 0.417 micron, which is nearly a violet-blue, and extending to but not including crimson.
• noun Of the various colors called purple at any time, the Tyrian dye (which was properly a crimson) was anciently the most celebrated. This color was produced from an animal juice found in a shell-fish called murex or conchylium by the ancients. See Purpura, 2.
• noun A cloth robe, dress, or mantle of this hue, formerly the distinguishing dress of emperors, kings, or princes: as, to wear the purple.
• noun Hence Imperial or regal power; the office or dignity of an emperor or king.
• noun A cardinalate: so called in allusion to the red or scarlet hat and robes worn officially by cardinals.
• noun A gastropod yielding a purple fluid for dyeing, as a murex. Holland, tr. of Pliny.
• noun A shell of the genus Purpura.
• noun A purple fluid secreted by certain shell-fish, more fully called purple of Mollusca.
• noun plural See purples.
• Of a hue or color composed of red and blue blended.
• Imperial; regal; of the conventional color of imperial robes.
• See Patersonia.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A color formed by, or resembling that formed by, a combination of the primary colors red and blue.
• noun Cloth dyed a purple color, or a garment of such color; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple rode or mantle worn by Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity.
• noun Hence: Imperial sovereignty; royal rank, dignity, or favor; loosely and colloquially, any exalted station; great wealth.
• noun A cardinalate. See Cardinal.
• noun (Zoöl.) Any species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis) See Illust. under Ursula.
• noun (Zoöl.) Any shell of the genus Purpura.
• noun (Med.) See Purpura.
• noun A disease of wheat. Same as Earcockle.
• noun (Chem.) Same as Cudbear.
• noun See Cassius.
• noun (Zoöl.) a coloring matter derived from certain mollusks, which dyes wool, etc., of a purple or crimson color, and is supposed to be the substance of the famous Tyrian dye. It is obtained from Ianthina, and from several species of Purpura, and Murex.
• noun to be of princely birth; to be highborn.
• transitive verb To make purple; to dye of purple or deep red color.
• adjective Exhibiting or possessing the color called purple, much esteemed for its richness and beauty; of a deep red, or red and blue color.
• adjective Imperial; regal; -- so called from the color having been an emblem of imperial authority.
• adjective Blood-red; bloody.
• adjective (Zoöl.) the European purple gallinule. See under Gallinule.
• adjective (Min.) See Bornite.
• adjective (Zoöl.) the crow blackbird. See under Crow.
• adjective See under Martin.
• adjective See under Sandpiper.
• adjective See Ianthina.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A colour/color that is a dark blend of red and blue; dark magenta.
• noun Imperial power, because the colour purple was worn by emperors and kings.
• noun Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk.
• noun The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana.