Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A white lead pigment, sometimes used in cosmetics.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun White lead; a mixture or compound of hydrate and carbonate of lead, produced by exposing the metal in thin plates to the vapor of vinegar.
- To wash with ceruse; apply ceruse to as a cosmetic.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun White lead, used as a pigment. See White lead, under
white . - noun A cosmetic containing white lead.
- noun (Min.) The native carbonate of lead.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
White lead , a hydrate of lead mixed withcarbonate , formerly used as a whitepigment , in cosmetics, and for medical purposes.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a poisonous white pigment that contains lead
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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All experienced artisans know that ceruse is not easily penetrated by oil, and one is often required to begin to grind it in water.
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There were no labels on the bottles; the little leaden capsules placed over the corks alone bore an inscription, and they were coated with a kind of ceruse, doubtless to ensure preservation.
The Three Cities Trilogy: Lourdes, Volume 3 ��mile Zola 1871
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There were no labels on the bottles; the little leaden capsules placed over the corks alone bore an inscription, and they were coated with a kind of ceruse, doubtless to ensure preservation.
The Three Cities Trilogy: Lourdes, Complete ��mile Zola 1871
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There were no labels on the bottles; the little leaden capsules placed over the corks alone bore an inscription, and they were coated with a kind of ceruse, doubtless to ensure preservation.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete Lourdes, Rome and Paris ��mile Zola 1871
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Theo, who tried to sit quietly while Teddy painted his face with Venetian ceruse, announced, “The queen is with child.”
Exit the Actress Priya Parmar 2011
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Theo, who tried to sit quietly while Teddy painted his face with Venetian ceruse, announced, “The queen is with child.”
Exit the Actress Priya Parmar 2011
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There is a passage about lead, as ceruse or as minium, as the basis to imitate all colored gems.
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Watin used the example of ceruse, a lead-based pigment that absorbs water readily.
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Metallic colors — for example, ceruse, lead white, verdet — have no odor by themselves.
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Painters debated the relative merits of lead white, ceruse, zinc white, and white clay.
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Male members of the court of Louis XIV in France painted on beauty marks, while Elizabethan Englishmen powdered their faces with ceruse, a toxic mixture of vinegar and white lead.
Makeup Is for Everyone By 2021
chained_bear commented on the word ceruse
"He describes several goods being sent by caravan from Guzang to other destinations, most likely Loulan, some 900 miles (1,400 km) away: 'white,' most likely ceruse, a cosmetic with a white lead base; pepper; silver; and 'rysk,' a term whose meaning is not clear. Certain goods traveled great distances: pepper and camphor could be purchased only in Southeast Asia or India, while musk came from the Tibetan border with Gansu."
--Valerie Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History (Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2012), 119
January 3, 2017