color

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   having or capable of producing colors

   I have an extra roll of color film.

2. 2
   noun

   a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect

   A white color is made up of many different wavelengths of light.

3. 3
   noun

   the timbre of a musical sound

   The recording fails to capture the true color of the original music.

4. 4
   noun

   interest and variety and intensity

   The Puritan Period was lacking in color.

5. 5
   noun

   the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction

   Each flavor of quarks comes in three colors.

6. 6
   noun

   any material used for its color

   I used a different color for the trim.

7. 7
   verb

   to change color, often in an undesired manner

   The shirts discolored.

8. 8
   verb

   to add color to

   The child colored the drawings.

Etymology

From Middle English colour, color, borrowed from Anglo-Norman colur, from Old French colour, color, from Latin color. Doublet of couleur. Displaced English blee, Middle English blee (“color”), from Old English blēo. Also partially replaced Old English hīew (“color”) and its descendants (English hue), which is less often used in this sense. The spelling color was popularized in modern American English by Noah Webster, to match the spelling of the word's Latin etymon, and make all American spellings of the derivatives consistent (colorimeter, coloration, colorize, colorless, etc).