King James Bible Dictionary

Properly the absence of all colour. In Proverbs 7:9 the Hebrew word means, as in the margin of the Revised Version, "the pupil of the eye." It is translated "apple" of the eye in Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalms 17:8; Proverbs 7:2. It is a different word which is rendered "black" in Leviticus 13:31, 37; Song of Solomon 1:5; 5:11; and Zechariah 6:2, 6. It is uncertain what the "black marble" of Esther 1:6 was which formed a part of the mosaic pavement.

BLACK, adjective

1. Of the color of night; destitute of light; dark.

2. Darkened by clouds; as the heavens black with clouds.

3. Sullen; having a cloudy look or countenance.

4. Atrociously wicked; horrible; as a black deed or crime.

5. Dismal; mournful; calamitous.

BLACK and blue, the dark color of a bruise in the flesh, which is accompanied with a mixture of blue.

BLACK, noun That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black

1. A negro; a person whose skin is black

2. A black dress, or mourning; as, to be clothed in black

BLACK, verb transitive To make black; to blacken; to soil.

BLACK'-ACT, noun [black and act.] The English statute 9.Geo.I. which makes it felony to appear armed in any park or warren, etc., or

to hunt or steal deer, etc., with the face blacked or disguised.

BLACK'-BALL, noun [black and ball.] A composition for blacking shoes.

BLACK'-BALL, verb transitive To reject or negative in choosing, by putting black balls into a ballot-box.

BLACK'-BAR, noun [black and bar.] A plea obliging the plaintiff to assign the place of trespass.

BLACK'-BERRY, noun The berry of the bramble or rubus; a popular name applied, in different places, to different species, or varieties of this fruit.

BLACK'-BIRD, noun [black and bird.] In England, the merula, a species of turdus, a singing bird with a fine note, but very loud. In America, this name is given to different birds, as to the gracula quiscula, or crow black-bird and to the oriolus phaeniceus, or red winged black-bird

BLACK-'BOOK, noun [black and book.] The Black Book of the Exchequer in England, is a book said to have been composed in 1175, by Gervais of Tilbury. It contains a description of the Court of Exchequer, its officers, their ranks and privileges, wages, perquisites and jurisdiction, with the revenues of the crown, in money, grain and cattle.

1. Any book which treats of necromancy.

2. A book compiled by order of the visitors of monasteries, under Henry VIII., containing a detailed account of the enormities practiced in religious houses, to blacken them and to hasten their dissolution.

BLACK'-BROWED, adjective [black and brow.] Having black eye-brows; gloomy; dismal; threatening; as a black-browed gust.

BLACK-BRY'ONY, noun [black and bryony.] A plant, the Tamus.

BLACK-CAP, noun [black and cap.] A bird, the Motacilla atricapilla, or mock-nightingale; so called from its black crown. It is common in Europe.

1. In cookery, an apple roasted till black, to be served up in a dish of boiled custard.

BLACK'-CATTLE,noun [black and cattle.] Cattle of the bovine genus, as bulls, oxen and cows. [English.]

BLACK-CHALK, noun A mineral of a bluish black color, of a slaty texture, and soiling the fingers when handled; a variety of argillaceous slate.

BLACK'-COCK, noun [black and cock.] A fowl, called also black-grous and black-game, the Tetrao tetrix of Linne.

BLACK'-EAGLE, noun [black and eagle.] In Scotland, a name given to the Falco fulvus, the white tailed eagle of Edwards.

BLACK'-EARTH, noun Mold; earth of a dark color.

BLACK'ED, participle passive Made black; soiled.

BLACK'EN, verb transitive

1. To make black.

The importation of slaves that has blackened half America.

2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud.

3. To soil.

4. To sully reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character.

BLACK'EN, verb intransitive To grow black, or dark.

BLACK'ENER, noun He that blackens.

BLACK'-EYED, adjective Having black eyes.

BLACK'-FACED, adjective Having a black face.

BLACK'-FISH, noun [black and fish.] A fish in the Orontes, about twenty inches long, in shape resembling the sheat-fish. Its eyes are placed near the corners of its mouth on the edge of the lower jaw.

1. In the U. States, a fish caught on the rocky shores of New England.

BLACK-FOREST, noun [black and forest.] A forest in Germany, in Swabia; a part of the ancient Hercynian forest.

BLACK-FRIAR, noun Black-friars is a name given to the Dominican Order, called also Predicants and preaching friars; in France, Jacobins.

BLACK'-GUARD, noun [said to be of black and guard; but is it not a corruption of black-ard, black-king?]

A vulgar term applied to a mean fellow, who uses abusive, scurrilous language, or treats others with foul abuse.

BLACK'ING, participle present tense Making black.

BLACK'ING, noun A substance used for blacking shoes, variously made; any factitious matter for making things black.

BLACK'ISH, adjective Somewhat black; moderately black or dark.

BLACK'-JACK, A name given by miners to blend, a mineral called also false galena, and blend. It is an ore of zink, in combination with iron and sulphur, sulfuret of zink.

1. A leathern cup of old times.

BLACK'-LEAD, noun A mineral of a dark steel-gray color, and of a scaly texture, composed of carbon, with a small portion of iron. This name, black-lead is improper, as it contains no lead. It is called plumbago, and technically graphite, as it is used for pencils.

BLACK'-LEGS, noun In some parts of England, a disease among calves and sheep. It is a sort of jelly which settles in the legs and sometimes in the neck.

BLACK'LY, adverb Darkly; atrociously.

BLACK'-MAIL, noun A certain rate of money, corn, cattle or other thing, anciently paid, in the north of England, to certain men, who were allied to robbers, to be by them protected from pillage.

1. Black rent, or rents paid in corn or flesh.

BLACK'-MONDAY, noun Easter Monday, in 34. Ed.III., which was misty, obscure, and so cold that men died on horseback.

BLACK'-MONKS, noun A denomination given to the Benedictines.

BLACK'-MOOR, noun [black and moor.] A negro; a black man.

BLACK'-MOUTHED, adjective Using foul or scurrilous language.

Figurative
Job 30:30; Joel 2:6

Blackness of darkness
Jude 1:13
Colors

BLACK'NESS, noun The quality of being black; black color; darkness; atrociousness or enormity in wickedness.

BLACK'-PUDDING, noun A kind of food made of blood and grain.

BLACK'-ROD, noun [black and rod.] In England, the usher belonging to the order of the garter; so called from the black rod which he carries. He is of the king's chamber and usher of Parliament.

BLACK-ROW GRAINS, noun A species of iron stone or ore, found in the mines about Dudley in Staffordshire, England.

BLACK'SEA, noun [black and sea.] The Euxine Sea, on the eastern border of Europe.

BLACK'-SHEEP, noun [black and sheep.] In oriental history, the ensign or standard of a race of Turkmans in Armenia and Mesopotamia.

See Smith
Smith

BLACK'SMITH, noun [black and smith.] A smith who works in iron, and makes iron utensils; more properly, an iron-smith.

Black'-strakes, in a ship, are a range of planks immediately above the wales in a ship's side, covered with tar and lamp-black.

BLACK'-TAIL, noun [black and tail.] A fish, a kind of perch, called also a ruff or pope.

BLACK'-THORN, noun [black and thorn.] A species of prunus, called also sloe. It grows ten or twelve feet high, very branchy, and armed with sharp, strong spines, and bearing small, round, black cherries. It is much cultivated for hedges.

BLACK'-TIN, noun [black and tin.] Tin ore, when dressed, stamped and washed ready for melting. It is the ore comminuted by beating into a black power, like fine sand.

BLACK'-VISAGED, adjective Having a dark visage or appearance.

BLACK'-WADD, noun [black and wadd.] An ore of manganese, found in Derbyshire, England, and used as a drying ingredient in paints. It is remarkable for taking fire, when mixed with linseed oil in a certain proportion.

BLACK'-WORK, noun [black and work.] Iron wrought by black-smiths; so called in distinction from that wrought by white-smiths.

BLAD'-APPLE, noun In botany, the cactus or a species of it.