Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several lichens, chiefly of the genus Roccella, from which a dye is obtained.
- noun The violet dyestuff obtained from any of these lichens.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
archil .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun See
archil .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several
lichens , especially those of thegenera Roccella and Lecanora. - noun The
dye ,orcein , extracted from them.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of various lecanoras that yield the dye archil
- noun a purplish dye obtained from orchil lichens
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word orchil.
Examples
-
The coloring parts of resinous (resin-like) dyestuffs are extracted from substances that are insoluble in water, for example annatto, indigo, carthamus, and orchil.
-
In 1758, Cuthbert Gordon received a British patent for a substance he called cudbear, the result of a new processing method he developed for the traditional dyestuff orchil.
-
He supposes, in a word, that for every colored substance existing in orchil and litmus, there is a corresponding white one, producible by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen, &c.; and, in proof of this theory, he mentions having obtained from Azolitmine and Betaorceine colorless bodies, to which he gave the respective names of Leuco-litmine and Leuco-orceine.
-
A woaded color, for example, is only fast in respect of the vat indigo which it contains, and yet how frequent is the custom to unite with the indigo such dyes as barwood, orchil, and indigo-carmine, the fugitive character of which I have pointed out.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 810, July 11, 1891 Various
-
Pliny, down to the present day, sketching briefly the ancient end modern history of orchil, cudbear, and litmus, and specifying the native use of lichen-dyes in different, countries of Europe, Asia, and America.
-
Their utility in the arts, and especially in dyeing -- including the collection of a series of the commercial dye lichens, _i. e._, those used by the manufacturers of London, &c., in the making of orchil, cudbear, litmus, and other lichen dyes.
-
Turmeric, orchil, catechu, and indigo carmine are all extremely fugitive.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 810, July 11, 1891 Various
-
On some of the rugged masses of masonry grew large hoary tufts of the strange roccella or orchil-weed, which yields the famous purple dye -- with which, in all likelihood, the robes of the Cæsars were coloured -- and which gave wealth, rank, and name to one princely
Roman Mosaics Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood Hugh Macmillan
-
He found that such fugitive colors as orchil, safflower, and indigo-carmine fade very rapidly in moist air, less rapidly in dry air, and that they experience little or no change in hydrogen or in a vacuum.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 810, July 11, 1891 Various
-
After a few remarks on the chemical constitution of orchil and litmus, as given by Kane, Gelis, Pereira, and others, he discussed the subject of decolorisation of weak infusions of orchil and litmus by exclusion of atmospheric air, and by various deoxidising agents, and the different theories as to the causation of this phenomenon.
chained_bear commented on the word orchil
Usage note/explanation in comment on archil.
October 4, 2017