Definition of "color"

color

/ˈkʌl.ə(ɹ)/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural colors
1. (uncountable) The spectral composition of visible light.
2. A subset thereof:
  1. (countable) A particular set of visible spectral compositions, perceived or named as a class.
    Quotations
    Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
    1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
  2. (uncountable) Hue as opposed to achromatic colors (black, white and grays).
  3. These hues as used in color television or films, color photographs, etc (as opposed to the shades of grey used in black-and-white television).
  4. (heraldry) Any of the standard dark tinctures used in a coat of arms, including azure, gules, sable, and vert.
3. A paint.
4. (uncountable) Human skin tone, especially as an indicator of race or ethnicity.
5. (medicine) Skin color, noted as normal, jaundiced, cyanotic, flush, mottled, pale, or ashen as part of the skin signs assessment.
6. A flushed appearance of blood in the face; redness of complexion.
  Quotations
  […] her very embarrassment wore a graceful air; her high colour had softened down to a warm, delicate tint; and her dress, which looked beautifully new and fresh, was in good taste, and showed her off to advantage.
  1864, Sir Henry Stewart Cunningham, Late Laurels, volumes 1-2, page 117
7. (figuratively) Richness of expression; detail or flavour that is likely to generate interest or enjoyment.
  Quotations
  Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local colour) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust […].
  1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915
8. A standard, flag, or insignia:
  1. (in the plural) A standard or banner.
  2. (in the plural) The flag of a nation or team.
    Quotations
    The arrival of the British Consul at Bangkok shall not take place before the ratification of this Treaty, nor until ten vessels owned by British subjects, sailing under British colours and with British papers, shall have entered the port of Bangkok for purposes of trade, subsequent to the signing of this Treaty.
    1856, “Treaty signed April 18, 1855; ratified April 5, 1856”, in Treaty of friendship and commerce between Great Britain and Siam, Bangkok: J. H. Chandler, page 7
  3. (in the plural) Gang insignia.
9. (in the plural) An award for sporting achievement, particularly within a school or university.
10. (military, in the plural) The morning ceremony of raising the flag.
11. (physics) A property of quarks, with three values called red, green, and blue, which they can exchange by passing gluons; color charge.
12. (finance, uncountable) A third-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the rate of change of gamma with respect to time, or equivalently the rate of change of charm with respect to changes in the underlying asset price.
13. (typography) The relative lightness or darkness of a mass of written or printed text on a page. (See type color on Wikipedia.Wikipedia )
14. (snooker) Any of the colored balls excluding the reds.
15. A front or facade; an ostensible truth actually false; pretext.
  Quotations
  At the far end of the continuum, Roger Seagraves collected personal items from people he'd murdered, or assassinated rather, since he'd done it under the color of serving his country.
  2011, David Baldacci, The Collectors
16. An appearance of right or authority; color of law.
  Quotations
  The only thing which this defendant is accused of doing is that he excluded this boy from the school, and he did it under the color of the statute relating to the subject, and did it because he was a colored boy.
  1882, The Ohio Law Journal, volume 2, page 396
  no such action, suit, or any other process or proceeding thereupon shall at any time be impeached, stayed, or delayed by or under colour or pretence of any privilege of Parliament.
  1770, “Parliamentary Privilege Act 1770”, in legislation.gov.uk‎
adjective
not comparable
1. Conveying color, as opposed to shades of gray.
verb
third-person singular simple present colors, present participle coloring, simple past and past participle colored
1. (transitive) To give something color.
  1. (transitive) To cause (a pipe, especially a meerschaum) to take on a brown or black color, by smoking.
2. (intransitive) To apply colors to the areas within the boundaries of a line drawing using colored markers or crayons.
3. (of a person or their face) To become red through increased blood flow.
4. To affect without completely changing.
5. (informal) To attribute a quality to; to portray (as).
6. (mathematics, graph theory) To assign colors to the vertices of a graph (or the regions of a map) so that no two vertices connected by an edge (regions sharing a border) have the same color.