Ford.
White is used in many self-explaining compounds, as white-backed,
white-bearded, white-footed.
White alder. (Bot.) See Sweet pepper bush, under Pepper. — White ant
(Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of social pseudoneuropterous
insects of the genus Termes. These insects are very abundant in
tropical countries, and form large and complex communities consisting
of numerous asexual workers of one or more kinds, of large- headed
asexual individuals called soldiers, of one or more queens (or fertile
females) often having the body enormously distended by the eggs, and,
at certain seasons of numerous winged males, together with the larvæ
and pupæ of each kind in various stages of development. Many of the
species construct large and complicated nests, sometimes in the form of
domelike structures rising several feet above the ground and connected
with extensive subterranean galleries and chambers. In their social
habits they closely resemble the true ants. They feed upon animal and
vegetable substances of various kinds, including timber, and are often
very destructive to buildings and furniture. — White arsenic (Chem.),
arsenious oxide, As2O3, a substance of a white color, and vitreous
adamantine luster, having an astringent, sweetish taste. It is a deadly
poison. — White bass (Zoöl.), a fresh-water North American bass (Roccus
chrysops) found in the Great Likes. — White bear (Zoöl.), the polar
bear. See under Polar. — White blood cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte. —
White brand (Zoöl.), the snow goose. — White brass, a white alloy of
copper; white copper. — White campion. (Bot.) (a) A kind of catchfly
(Silene stellata) with white flowers. (b) A white-flowered Lychnis
(Lychnis vespertina). — White canon (R. C. Ch.), a Premonstratensian. —
White caps, the members of a secret organization in various of the
United States, who attempt to drive away or reform obnoxious persons by
lynch-law methods. They appear masked in white. — White cedar (Bot.),
an evergreen tree of North America (Thuja occidentalis), also the
related Cupressus thyoides, or Chamæcyparis sphæroidea, a slender
evergreen conifer which grows in the so-called cedar swamps of the
Northern and Atlantic States. Both are much valued for their durable
timber. In California the name is given to the Libocedrus decurrens,
the timber of which is also useful, though often subject to dry rot.
Goodale. The white cedar of Demerara, Guiana, etc., is a lofty tree
(Icica, or Bursera, altissima) whose fragrant wood is used for canoes
and cabinetwork, as it is not attacked by insect. — White cell.
(Physiol.) See Leucocyte. — White cell- blood (Med.), leucocythæmia. —
White clover (Bot.), a species of small perennial clover bearing white
flowers. It furnishes excellent food for cattle and horses, as well as
for the honeybee. See also under Clover. — White copper, a whitish
alloy of copper. See German silver, under German. — White copperas
(Min.), a native hydrous sulphate of iron; coquimbite. — White coral
(Zoöl.), an ornamental branched coral (Amphihelia oculata) native of
the Mediterranean. — White corpuscle. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte. — White
cricket (Zoöl.), the tree cricket. — White crop, a crop of grain which
loses its green color, or becomes white, in ripening, as wheat, rye,
barley, and oats, as distinguished from a green crop, or a root crop. —
White currant (Bot.), a variety of the common red currant, having white
berries. — White daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. See under Daisy. —
White damp, a kind of poisonous gas encountered in coal mines. Raymond.
— White elephant (Zoöl.), a whitish, or albino, variety of the Asiatic
elephant. — White elm (Bot.), a majestic tree of North America (Ulmus
Americana), the timber of which is much used for hubs of wheels, and
for other purposes. — White ensign. See Saint George's ensign, under
Saint. — White feather, a mark or symbol of cowardice. See To show the
white feather, under Feather, n. — White fir (Bot.), a name given to
several coniferous trees of the Pacific States, as Abies grandis, and
A. concolor. — White flesher (Zoöl.), the ruffed grouse. See under
Ruffed. [Canada] — White frost. See Hoarfrost. — White game (Zoöl.),
the white ptarmigan. — White garnet (Min.), leucite. — White grass
(Bot.), an American grass (Leersia Virginica) with greenish-white
paleæ. — White grouse. (Zoöl.) (a) The white ptarmigan. (b) The prairie
chicken. [Local, U. S.] — White grub (Zoöl.), the larva of the June bug
and other allied species. These grubs eat the roots of grasses and
other plants, and often do much damage. — White hake (Zoöl.), the
squirrel hake. See under Squirrel. — White hawk, or kite (Zoöl.), the
hen harrier. — White heat, the temperature at which bodies become
incandescent, and appear white from the bright light which they emit. —
White hellebore (Bot.), a plant of the genus Veratrum (V. album) See
Hellebore, 2. — White herring, a fresh, or unsmoked, herring, as
distinguished from a red, or cured, herring. [R.] Shak. — White hoolet
(Zoöl.), the barn owl. [Prov. Eng.] — White horses (Naut.),
white-topped waves; whitecaps. — The White House. See under House. —
White ibis (Zoöl.), an American ibis (Guara alba) having the plumage
pure white, except the tips of the wings, which are black. It inhabits
tropical America and the Southern United States. Called also Spanish
curlew. — White iron. (a) Thin sheets of iron coated with tin; tinned
iron. (b) A hard, silvery-white cast iron containing a large proportion
of combined carbon. — White iron pyrites (Min.), marcasite. — White
land, a tough clayey soil, of a whitish hue when dry, but blackish
after rain. [Eng.] — White lark (Zoöl.), the snow bunting. — White
lead. (a) A carbonate of lead much used in painting, and for other
purposes; ceruse. (b) (Min.) Native lead carbonate; cerusite. — White
leather, buff leather; leather tanned with alum and salt. — White leg
(Med.), milk leg. See under Milk. — White lettuce (Bot.), rattlesnake
root. See under Rattlesnake. — White lie. See under Lie. — White light.
(a) (Physics) Light having the different colors in the same proportion
as in the light coming directly from the sun, without having been
decomposed, as by passing through a prism. See the Note under Color,
n., 1. (b) A kind of firework which gives a brilliant white
illumination for signals, etc. — White lime, a solution or preparation
of lime for whitewashing; whitewash. — White line (Print.), a void
space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a blank line. —
White meat. (a) Any light-colored flesh, especially of poultry. (b)
Food made from milk or eggs, as butter, cheese, etc.
Driving their cattle continually with them, and feeding only upon their
milk and white meats.
Spenser.
— White merganser (Zoöl.), the smew. — White metal. (a) Any one of
several white alloys, as pewter, britannia, etc. (b) (Metal.) A fine
grade of copper sulphide obtained at a certain stage in copper
smelting. — White miller. (Zoöl.) (a) The common clothes moth. (b) A
common American bombycid moth (Spilosoma Virginica) which is pure white
with a few small black spots; — called also ermine moth, and virgin
moth. See Woolly bear, under Woolly. — White money, silver money. —
White mouse (Zoöl.), the albino variety of the common mouse. — White
mullet (Zoöl.), a silvery mullet (Mugil curema) ranging from the coast
of the United States to Brazil; — called also blue-back mullet, and
liza. — White nun (Zoöl.), the smew; — so called from the white crest
and the band of black feathers on the back of its head, which give the
appearance of a hood. — White oak. (Bot.) See under Oak. — White owl.
(Zoöl.) (a) The snowy owl. (b) The barn owl. — White partridge (Zoöl.),
the white ptarmigan. — White perch. (Zoöl.) (a) A North American
fresh-water bass (Morone Americana) valued as a food fish. (b) The
croaker, or fresh-water drum. (c) Any California surf fish. — White
pine. (Bot.) See the Note under Pine. — White poplar (Bot.), a European
tree (Populus alba) often cultivated as a shade tree in America; abele.
— White poppy (Bot.), the opium-yielding poppy. See Poppy. — White
powder, a kind of gunpowder formerly believed to exist, and to have the
power of exploding without noise. [Obs.]
A pistol charged with white powder.
Beau. & Fl.
— White precipitate. (Old Chem.) See under Precipitate. — White rabbit.
(Zoöl.) (a) The American northern hare in its winter pelage. (b) An
albino rabbit. — White rent, (a) (Eng. Law) Formerly, rent payable in
silver; — opposed to black rent. See Blackmail, n., 3. (b) A rent, or
duty, of eight pence, payable yearly by every tinner in Devon and
Cornwall to the Duke of Cornwall, as lord of the soil. [Prov. Eng.] —
White rhinoceros. (Zoöl.) (a) The one-horned, or Indian, rhinoceros
(Rhinoceros Indicus). See Rhinoceros. (b) The umhofo. — White ribbon,
the distinctive badge of certain organizations for the promotion of
temperance or of moral purity; as, the White-ribbon Army. — White rope
(Naut.), untarred hemp rope. — White rot. (Bot.) (a) Either of several
plants, as marsh pennywort and butterwort, which were thought to
produce the disease called rot in sheep. (b) A disease of grapes. See
White rot, under Rot. — White sage (Bot.), a white, woolly undershrub
(Eurotia lanata) of Western North America; — called also winter fat. —
White salmon (Zoöl.), the silver salmon. — White salt, salt dried and
calcined; decrepitated salt. — White scale (Zoöl.), a scale insect
(Aspidiotus Nerii) injurious to the orange tree. See Orange scale,
under Orange. — White shark (Zoöl.), a species of man- eating shark.
See under Shark. — White softening. (Med.) See Softening of the brain,
under Softening. — White spruce. (Bot.) See Spruce, n., 1. — White
squall (Naut.), a sudden gust of wind, or furious blow, which comes up
without being marked in its approach otherwise than by whitecaps, or
white, broken water, on the surface of the sea. — White staff, the
badge of the lord high treasurer of England. Macaulay. — White stork
(Zoöl.), the common European stork. — White sturgeon. (Zoöl.) See
Shovelnose (d). — White sucker. (Zoöl.) (a) The common sucker. (b) The
common red horse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum). — White swelling (Med.), a
chronic swelling of the knee, produced by a strumous inflammation of
the synovial membranes of the kneejoint and of the cancellar texture of
the end of the bone forming the kneejoint; — applied also to a
lingering chronic swelling of almost any kind. — White tombac. See
Tombac. — White trout (Zoöl.), the white weakfish, or silver squeteague
(Cynoscion nothus), of the Southern United States. — White vitriol
(Chem.), hydrous sulphate of zinc. See White vitriol, under Vitriol. —
White wagtail (Zoöl.), the common, or pied, wagtail. — White wax,
beeswax rendered white by bleaching. — White whale (Zoöl.), the beluga.
— White widgeon (Zoöl.), the smew. — White wine. any wine of a clear,
transparent color, bordering on white, as Madeira, sherry, Lisbon,
etc.; — distinguished from wines of a deep red color, as port and
Burgundy. "White wine of Lepe." Chaucer. — White witch, a witch or
wizard whose supernatural powers are supposed to be exercised for good
and beneficent purposes. Addison. Cotton Mather. — White wolf. (Zoöl.)
(a) A light-colored wolf (Canis laniger) native of Thibet; — called
also chanco, golden wolf, and Thibetan wolf. (b) The albino variety of
the gray wolf. — White wren (Zoöl.), the willow warbler; - - so called
from the color of the under parts.
<! p. 1649 !>
White (?), n.
1. The color of pure snow; one of the natural colors of bodies, yet not
strictly a color, but a composition of all colors; the opposite of
black; whiteness. See the Note under Color, n., 1.
Finely attired in a of white.
Shak.
2. Something having the color of snow; something white, or nearly so;
as, the white of the eye.
3. Specifically, the central part of the butt in archery, which was
formerly painted white; the center of a mark at which a missile is
shot.
'T was I won the wager, though you hit the white.
Shak.
4. A person with a white skin; a member of the white, or Caucasian,
races of men.