Definition of "white lead"

white lead

noun
uncountable
1. (obsolete) tin, golden marcasite
  Quotations
  It is not amiſs here to give the differences betwixt white Lead, or Tin, Biſmuth, Tin-glaſs, or aſh-coloured Lead, and this common Lead, which they call black Lead;
  1671, John Webster, Metallographia: Or, an history of metals., London, page 271
2. A basic lead carbonate formerly widely used for a white pigment in paint.
  Quotations
  The beginning of a new episode of work for Bradly was an agitated niggling over six-by-four squares of cardboard coated with size and white lead, prepared by himself to save an experimental waste of canvas.
  1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, page 40