Definitions
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 calledmurex or conchylium by the ancients. SeePurpura , 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.
- 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 . - transitive verb To make purple; to dye of purple or deep red color.
- 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. underUrsula . - 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.
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 whichTyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the commondog whelk . - noun The
purple haze cultivar ofcannabis in thekush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smokedmarijuana .
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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[49]: The purple die is called in I Maccab.iv. 23, _purple of the sea, _ or _sea purple_; it being the blood or juice of a turbinated shell-fish, which the Jews call [Hebrew] _Chalson_; this they speak of as a shell-fish.
Female Scripture Biographies, Volume II Francis Augustus Cox 1818
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For when Alexander ordered the Greeks to furnish him with purple robes to wear at the sacrifices on his triumphal return from war against the barbarians, and his subjects contributed so much per head, Theocritus said, "Before I doubted, but now I am sure, that this is the _purple death_ Homer speaks of." [
Plutarch's Morals 46-120? Plutarch
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The word purple is derived from the Greek porphura, an octopus which yielded purple pigments from which purple dyes were originally manufactured.
Zolar’s Magick Of Color Simon 1994
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The word purple is derived from the Greek porphura, an octopus which yielded purple pigments from which purple dyes were originally manufactured.
Zolar’s Magick Of Color Simon 1994
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The word purple is derived from the Greek porphura, an octopus which yielded purple pigments from which purple dyes were originally manufactured.
Zolar’s Magick Of Color Simon 1994
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The word purple is derived from the Greek porphura, an octopus which yielded purple pigments from which purple dyes were originally manufactured.
Zolar’s Magick Of Color Simon 1994
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The colour purple is the colour of mourning in Rwanda and yesterday, 7th April, was the 15th Anniversary of the Genocide.
Global Voices in English » Rwanda: Fifteen years after the genocide 2009
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Another aural Field, what I call purple space, should be mentioned.
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The "purple" is the badge of empire; even as in mockery it was put on our Lord. decked -- literally, "gilded." stones -- Greek, "stone." filthiness -- A, B, and Andreas read, "the filthy (impure) things."
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To her, a woman was a woman, whether garbed in purple or the rags of the gutter;
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