King James Bible Dictionary

WHIT, noun [Latin] A point; a jot; the smallest part or particle imaginable. It is used without a preposition. He is not a whit the wiser for experience.

It does not me a whit displease.

The regular construction would be by a whit or in a whit In these phrases, a whit may be interpreted by in the least, in the smallest degree.

A symbol of purity (2 Chronicles 5:12; Psalms 51:7; Isaiah 1:18; Revelation 3:18; 7:14). Our Lord, at his transfiguration, appeared in raiment "white as the light" (Matthew 17:2, etc.).

See Color
Color

WHITE, adjective [G.]

1. Being in the color of pure snow; snowy; not dark; as white paper; a white skin.

2. Pale; destitute of color in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; as white with fear.

3. Having the color of purity; pure; clean; free from spot; as white robed innocence.

4. Gray; as white hair; a venerable man, white with age.

5. Pure; unblemished.

No whiter page than Addisons remains.

6. In a scriptural sense, purified from sin; sanctified. Psalms 51:7.

WHITE-BAIT, noun [white and bait.] A very small delicate fish, of the genus Clupea.

WHITE-BEAM, noun The white-leaf tree, a species of Crataegus.

WHITE-BEAR, noun [white and bear.] The bear that inhabits the polar regions.

WHITE-FACE, WHITE-BLAZE noun A white mark in the forehead of a horse, descending almost to the nose.

WHITE-BRANT, noun [white and brant.] A species of the duck kind, the Anas hyperborea.

WHITE-BUG , noun [white and bug.] An insect of the bug kind, which injures vines and some other species of fruit.

WHITE-CAMPION, noun [white and campion.] A pernicious perennial weed, growing in corn land, pastures and hedges.

WHITE-CATERPILLAR, noun An insect of a small size, called sometimes the borer, that injures the gooseberry bush.

WHITE-CENTAURY, noun AN annual weed in woods and other places. It is said to form the basis of the famous Portland powder for the gout.

WHITE-CLOVER, noun A small species of perennial clover, bearing white flowers. It furnishes excellent food for cattle and horses, as well as for the honey bee.

WHITE-CROP, noun White crops, in agriculture, are such as lose their green color or become white in ripening, as wheat, rye, barley and oats.

WHITED, participle passive Made white; whitened.

WHITE-DARNEL, noun A prolific and troublesome weed, growing among corm.

WHITE-EAR, WHITE-TAIL, noun A bird, the fallow finch.

WHITE-FACE, WHITE-BLAZE, noun A white mark in the forehead of a horse, descending almost to the nose.

WHITE-FILM, noun A white film growing over the eyes of sheep and causing blindness.

WHITE-FOOT, noun A white mark on the foot of a horse, between the fetlock and the coffin.

WHITE-HONEYSUCKLE, noun A name sometimes given to the white clover.

WHITE-HORSE-FISH, noun In ichthyology, the Raia aspera nostras of Willoughby, and the Raia fullonica of Linne. It has a rough spiny back, and on the tail are three rows of strong spines. It grows to the size of the skate.

WHITE-LAND, noun A name which the English give to a tough clayey soil, of a whitish hue when dry, but blackish after rain.

WHITE-LEAD, noun A carbonate of lead, much used in painting. It is prepared by exposing sheets of lead to the fumes of an acid, usually vinegar, and suspending them in the air until the surface becomes incrusted with a white coat, which is the substance in question.

WHITE-LIMED, adjective Whitewashed, or plastered with lime.

WHITE-LINE, noun Among printers, a void space, broader than usual, left between lines.

WHITE-LIVERED, adjective [white and liver.]

1. Having a pale look; feeble; cowardly.

2. Envious; malicious.

WHITELY, adverb Coming near to white. [Not used.]

WHITE-MANGANESE, noun An ore of manganese; carbonated oxydized manganese.

WHITE-MEAT, noun [white and meat.] Meats made of milk, butter, cheese, eggs and the like.

WHITEN, verb transitive hwitn. To make white; to bleach; to blanch; as, to whiten cloth.

WHITEN, verb intransitive To grow white; to turn or become white. The hair whitens with age; the sea whitens with foam; the trees in spring whiten with blossoms.

WHITENED, participle passive Made white; bleached.

WHITENER, noun One who bleaches or makes white.

WHITENESS, noun

1. The state of being white; white color, or freedom from any darkness or obscurity on the surface.

2. Paleness; want of a sanguineous tinge in the face.

3. Purity; cleanness; freedom from stain or blemish.

WHITE-POPLAR, noun A tree of the poplar kind, sometimes called the abele tree.

WHITE-POPPY, noun A species of poppy, sometimes cultivated fro the opium which is obtained from its juice by evaporation.

WHITE-POT, noun [white and pot.] A kind of food made of milk, cream, eggs, sugar, etc. baked in a pot.

WHITE-PRECIPITATE, noun Carbonate of mercury.

WHITE-PYRITE, WHITE-PYRITES, noun [white and pyrite.] An ore of a tin-white color, passing into a brass-yellow and steel-gray, occurring in octahedral crystals, sometimes stalactitical and botryoidal. It contains 46 parts of iron, and 54 of sulphur.

WHITE-PYRITE, WHITE-PYRITES noun [white and pyrite.] An ore of a tin-white color, passing into a brass-yellow and steel-gray, occurring in octahedral crystals, sometimes stalactitical and botryoidal. It contains 46 parts of iron, and 54 of sulphur.

WHITE-RENT, noun [white and rent.] In Devon and Cornwall, a rent or duty of eight pence, payable yearly by every tinner to the duke of Cornwall, as lord of the soil.

WHITES, noun The fluor albus, a disease of females.

WHITE-SALT, noun Salt dried and calcined; decrepitated salt.

WHITESTER, noun A bleacher. [Local.]

WHITESTONE, noun IN geology, the weiss stein of Werner, and the eurite of some geologists; a species of rocks, composed essentially of feldspar, but containing mica and other minerals.

WHITE-SWELLING, noun [white and swelling.] A swelling or chronic enlargement of the joints, circumscribed, without any alteration in the color of the skin, sometimes hard, sometimes yielding to pressure, sometimes indolent, but usually painful.

WHITE-TAIL, noun A bird, the wheat-ear, a species of Motacilla.

WHITE-THORN, noun A species of thorn, called also haw-thorn, of the genus Crataegus.

WHITE-THROAT, noun A small bird that frequents gardens and hedges, the Motacila sylvia.

WHITE-VITRIOL, noun In mineralogy, sulphate of zink, a natural salt.

WHITEWASH, noun [white and wash.]

1. A wash or liquid composition for whitening something; a wash for making the skin fair.

2. A composition of lime and water, used for whitening the plaster of walls, etc.

WHITEWASH, verb transitive

1. To cover with a white liquid composition, as with lime and water, etc.

2. To make white; to give a fair external appearance.

WHITEWASHED, participle passive Covered or overspread with a white liquid composition.

WHITE-WASHER, noun One who whitewashes the walls or plastering of apartments.

WHITEWASHING, participle present tense Overspreading or washing with a white liquid composition.

WHITE-WATER, noun A disease of sheep, of the dangerous stomachic kind.

WHITE-WAX, noun Bleached wax.

WHITE-WINE, noun Any wine of a clear transparent color, bordering on white, as Madeira, Sherry, Lisbon, etc.; opposed to wine of a deep red color, as Port and Burgundy.

WHITEWOOD, noun A species of timber tree growing in North America, the Liriodendron, or tulip tree. The name of certain species of Bignonia.

WHITE, noun

1. One of the natural colors of bodies, but not strictly a color, for it is said to be a composition of all the colors; destitution of all stain or obscurity on the surface; whiteness. WE say, bleached cloth is of a good white; attired in a robe of white.

2. A white spot or thing; the mark at which an arrow is shot.

White of the eye, that part of the ball of the eye surrounding the iris or colored part. It owes its whiteness to the lunica albuginea or adnata, a partial covering of the forepart of the eye, formed by the expansion of the tendons of the muscles which move the eye-ball.

White of an egg, the albumen, or pellucid viscous fluid, which surrounds the vitellus or yelk.

An analogous part, in the seeds of plants, is called the albumen or white. It is a farinaceous fleshy or horny substance, which makes up the chief bulk of some seeds, as in grasses, corn, palms and lilies, never rising out of the ground nor performing the office of leaves, but destined solely to nourish the germinating embryo, till its roots can perform their office. It is the perispermum of Jussieu.

Spanish white, a substance used in painting, prepared from chalk, by separating from the latter its silicious impurities.

WHITE, verb transitive To make white; to whiten; to whitewash; as whited sepulchers. Mark 9:1. Matthew 23:1.

WHITHER, adverb

1. To what place, interrogatively. whither goest thou?

WHITHER away so fast?

2. To what place, absolutely.

I strayd, I knew not whither

3. To which place, relatively.

WHITHER when as they came, they fell at words.

4. To what point or degree.

5. Whithersoever.

WHITHERSOEVER, adverb [whither and soever.] To whatever place. I will go whithersoever you lead.

WHITING, noun [from white.]

1. A small sea fish, the Asellus mollis or albus, a species of Gadus.

2. The same as Spanish white, which see.

WHITISH, adjective [from white.] Somewhat white; white in a moderate degree.

WHITISHNESS, noun [supra.] The quality of being somewhat white.

WHITLEATHER, WHITLETHER, noun [white and leather.] Lether dressed with alum, remarkable for its toughness.

WHITLEATHER, WHITLETHER noun [white and leather.] Lether dressed with alum, remarkable for its toughness.

In common use, the ligaments of animals, when in food.

WHITLOW, noun

1. In surgery, paronychia, a swelling or inflammation about the nails or ends of the fingers, or affecting one or more of the phalanges of the fingers, generally terminating in an abscess. There are four or five varieties of this swelling. 1. The cutaneous paronychia, which raises the cuticle, forming a kind of vesicle filled with a limpid serum, or bloody fluid. 2. The subcutaneous paronychia, a tumor attended with acute pain. It is seated in the cellular membrane under the skin. 3. The subungual paronychia, which occurs under the nail. It commences with inflammatory symptoms, but is less painful than the former. 4. There is also the paronychia of the periosteum, and the paronychia of the tendons or theca.

2. In sheep, the whitlow is a disease of the feet, of an inflammatory kind. It occurs round the hoof, where an acrid matter is collected, which ought to be discharged.

WHITLOW-GRASS, noun

1. Mountain knotgrass, a species of Illecebrium.

2. A name given to certain species of Draba.

The rue-leaved whitlow-grass is a species of Saxifraga.

WHITSOUR, noun A sort of apple.

WHITSTER, noun A whitener; a bleacher.

WHITSUL, noun A provincial name of milk, sour milk, cheese curds and butter.

WHITSUNTIDE, noun [white, Sunday, and tide.] The feast or season of Pentecost; so called it is said, because, in the primitive church, those who had been newly baptized appeared at church between Easter and Pentecost in white garments.

WHITTEN-TREE, noun A sort of tree.

WHITTLE, noun

1. A small pocket knife. [In this sense, I believe the word is not used in America.]

2. A white dress for a woman; a double blanket worn by west countrywomen in England, over the shoulders, like a cloke. [Not used in the United States.]

WHITTLE, verb transitive

1. To pare or cut off the surface of a thing with a small knife. Some persons have a habit of whittling, and are rarely seen without a penknife in their hands for that purpose. [This is, I believe, the only use of this word in New England.]

2. To edge; to sharpen. [Not in use.]

WHITY-BROWN, adjective Of a color between white and brown. [Local in England.]