Black vs Back - What's the difference?
black | back |
(of an object) Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
Without light.
(sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times
, passage=The country’s first black president, and its first president to reach adulthood after the Vietnam War and Watergate, Mr. Obama seemed like a digital-age leader who could at last dislodge the stalemate between those who clung to the government of the Great Society, on the one hand, and those who disdained the very idea of government, on the other.}}
(chiefly, historical) Designated for use by those ethnic groups which have dark pigmentation of the skin.
Bad; evil; ill-omened.
* 1655 , Benjamin Needler, Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis. London: N. Webb and W. Grantham, page 168.
Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen.
Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced.
* 1866 , The Contemporary Review , London: A. Strahan, page 338.
(Ireland, informal) Overcrowded.
(of coffee or tea) Without any cream, milk or creamer.
(board games, chess) Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess the set used by the player who moves second) (qualifier, often regardless of the pieces' actual colour).
(Germany, politics) Related to the .
(secrecy) Relating to a initiative whose existence or exact nature must remain withheld from the general public.
The colour/color perceived in the absence of light.
* Shakespeare
A black dye or pigment.
A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
(in the plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.
* 1625 , Francis Bacon, "Of Death", Essays :
(sometimes capitalised) A person of African, Aborigine, or Maori descent; a dark-skinned person.
* 2004 , Anthony Joseph Paul Cortese, Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising (page 108)
The black ball.
(baseball) The edge of home plate
(British) a type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
(informal) blackcurrant syrup (in mixed drinks, e.g. snakebite and black, cider and black).
In chess and similar games, the person playing with the black set of pieces.
Part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black.
* Sir K. Digby
(obsolete) A stain; a spot.
* Rowley
To make black, to blacken.
* 1859 , Oliver Optic, Poor and Proud; or, The Fortunes of Katy Redburn, a Story for Young Folks [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=506735625&tag=Optic,+Oliver:+Poor+and+proud;+or,+The+fortunes+of+Katy+Redburn,+a+story+for+young+folks,+1859&query=+black+your&id=OptPoor]
* 1911 , Edna Ferber, Buttered Side Down [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=302756157&tag=Ferber,+Edna:+Buttered+Side+Down,+1911&query=+black+your&id=FerButt]
* 1922 , John Galsworthy, A Family Man: In Three Acts [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC00645065&id=vw6G-rbudVUC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=%22black+his+eye%22&as_brr=1]
To apply blacking to something.
* 1853 , Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=600775507&tag=Stowe,+Harriet+Beecher:+The+Key+to+Uncle+Tom's+Cabin,+1853&query=+black+his&id=StoKeyu]
* 1861 , George William Curtis, Trumps: A Novel [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=160888866&tag=EAF538&query=+black+your&id=eaf538]
* 1911 , Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=91865750&tag=Beerbohm,+Max,+Sir,+1872-1956:+Zuleika+Dobson,+1911&query=+black+your&id=BeeZule]
(British) To boycott something or someone, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
(not comparable) Near the rear.
* , chapter=19
, title= (not comparable) Not current.
(not comparable) Far from the main area.
In arrear; overdue.
Moving or operating backward.
(comparable, phonetics) Produced in the back of the mouth.
(not comparable) To or in a previous condition or place.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Away from the front or from an edge.
* , chapter=1
, title= In a manner that impedes.
In a reciprocal manner.
The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly.
:
*
*:It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.
#The spine and associated tissues.
#:
# Large and attractive buttocks.
#*{{quote-book, 2002, (George Pelecanos), title=
, passage= He got his hand on her behind and caressed her firm, ample flesh.
#(lb) The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back.
#:
#The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back.
#:
#(lb) That part of the body that bears clothing.
#*{{quote-book, 1604, (William Shakespeare),
, passage=Do thou but think / What 'tis to cram a maw or clothe a back / From such a filthy vice}}
That which is farthest away from the front.
:
#The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.
#:
##The edge of a book which is bound.
##:
##(lb) The inside margin of a page.
##*, page=472, edition=1965 Ayer Publishing ed., title=
, passage=Convenience and custom have familiarised us to the printed page being a little higher than the middle of the leaf, and to its having a little more margin at the fore edge than in the back .}}
##The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting.
##:
#The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen.
#:
#Area behind, such as the backyard of a house.
#:
#The part of something that goes last.
#:
#(lb) In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team.
#:
#*{{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 28, author=Kevin Darlin, work=BBC
, title= (lb) Upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal's back.
:
A support or resource in reserve.
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:This project / Should have a back or second, that might hold, / If this should blast in proof.
(lb) The keel and keelson of a ship.
:
(lb) The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
*{{quote-book, 1911, Robert Bruce Brinsmade, title=
, passage=The stope is kept full of broken ore, sufficient only being drawn to leave a working space between the floor of broken ore and the back of the stope.}}
Effort, usually physical.
:
A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail.
:
Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
*1848 , Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Maine Reports (volume 6, page 397)
*:.
To go in the reverse direction.
* , chapter=1
, title= To support.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 9, author=Owen Phillips, work=BBC Sport
, title= (nautical, of the wind) To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
(nautical, of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship.
(nautical, of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power.
(UK, of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed.
To push or force backwards.
(obsolete) To get upon the back of; to mount.
* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
(obsolete) To place or seat upon the back.
* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
To make a back for; to furnish with a back.
To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
* (Thomas Henry Huxley) (1825-1895)
*
*:So this was my future home, I thought!Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement.
(legal, of a justice of the peace) To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender).
To row backward with (oars).
A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc.
A ferryboat.
As a proper noun black
is .As a noun back is
a small stream or brook.black
English
(wikipedia black)Adjective
(er)citation
- black''' drinking fountain; '''black hospital
- ...what a black day would that be, when the Ordinances of Jesus Christ should as it were be excommunicated, and cast out of the Church of Christ.
- He shot her a black look.
- Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the black market was flourishing.
- Jim drinks his coffee black , but Ellen prefers it with creamer.
- The black pieces in this chess set are made of dark blue glass.
- After the election, the parties united in a black -yellow alliance.
- 5 percent of the Defense Department funding will go to black projects.
Synonyms
* (dark and colourless) dark * (without light) dark, gloomy, pitch-blackAntonyms
* (dark and colourless) white, nonblack, unblack * (without light) bright, illuminated, litNoun
(en noun)black colour:
- Black is the badge of hell, / The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night.
- Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks , and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.
- Prize-winning books continue a trend toward increased representation of blacks , accounting for most of the books with exclusively black characters.
- At this point black makes a disastrous move.
- the black or sight of the eye
- defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust
Synonyms
* (colour or absence of light) ** blackness * (person) ** (standard) African American (in the US), Afro-American (in the US), person of color (US) or person of colour (UK), person of African descentAntonyms
* whiteVerb
(en verb)- "I don't want to fight; but you are a mean, dirty blackguard, or you wouldn't have treated a girl like that," replied Tommy, standing as stiff as a stake before the bully.
- "Say that again, and I'll black your eye for you."
- Ted, you can black your face, and dye your hair, and squint, and some fine day, sooner or later, somebody'll come along and blab the whole thing.
- I saw red, and instead of a cab I fetched that policeman. Of course father did black his eye.
- ...he must catch, curry, and saddle his own horse; he must black his own brogans (for he will not be able to buy boots).
- But in a moment he went to Greenidge's bedside, and said, shyly, in a low voice, "Shall I black your boots for you?"
- Loving you, I could conceive no life sweeter than hers — to be always near you; to black your boots, carry up your coals, scrub your doorstep; always to be working for you, hard and humbly and without thanks.
Synonyms
* (make black) blacken, darken, swarten * (boycott) blackball, blacklistDerived terms
* black alder * blackamoor * black-and-blue * black-and-tan * black and white * black arts * black bag job * blackball * black bean * black bear * black belt * blackberry * black bile * blackboard * black body * black book * black bottom * black bottom pie * black box * black bread * black bread mold * black bun * blackbutt * blackcap * black cherry * black coffee * black cohosh * black comedy * black cow * blackcurrant * blackdamp * Black Death * black diamond * black dwarf * black economy * blacken * black-eyed * black-eyed bean * black-eyed pea * black-eyed Susan * black-faced * blackfish * black flag * blackfly * Black Forest * Black Forest cake, Black Forest gateau * black frost * black game * blackguard * black gum * blackhead * black-hearted * black hole * black humor, black humour * black ice * blackjack * black knight * black-lead * blackleg * black letter * black light * black list * black-list * blackly * black lung * blackmail * black magic * black man * Black Maria * black mark * black market * black mass * black measles * black money * black mustard * blackness * black nightshade * black out * blackout * Black Panther * black pepper * blackpoll * black powder * Black Power * black propaganda * black pudding * black racer * black raspberry * Black Rod * black rot * Black Sea * black shale * black sheep * black-sick * black skimmer * blacksmith * black spot * black stork * blackstrap * black stump * black swan * black tea * blackthorn * black tie * blacktop * Black Tuesday * black up * black velvet * Black Virgin * black walnut * blackwater * black widow * blackwood * blackwork * carbon black * coal black * ivory black * Large Black * long black * nonblack * penny black * pitch-black * platinum black * short black * slate black * television blackSee also
* monochrome * *Statistics
* 1000 English basic words ----back
English
(wikipedia back)Etymology 1
(etyl) bak, from (etyl) 'bending'. The adverb represents an aphetic form of (aback).Adjective
(en adjective)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}
- back rent
- back action
Synonyms
* (near the rear) rear * (not current) former, previous * (far from the main area) remoteAntonyms
* (near the rear) front * (not current) current * (far from the main area) mainAdverb
(further)The new masters and commanders, passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned,
Noun
(en noun)Right as Rain: A Novel, isbn=0446610798, page=123
A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, isbn=0833731289
West Brom 1-3 Blackburn, passage=
Mining Without Timber, page=161
Synonyms
* (side opposite the visible side) reverse * (rear of the body) rear, backsideAntonyms
* (side opposite the front or useful side) front * (that which is farthest away from the front) frontCoordinate terms
* (non-alcoholic drink)Derived terms
* (non-alcoholic drink)Verb
(en verb)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’
Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark, passage=And Netherlands, backed by a typically noisy and colourful travelling support, started the second period in blistering fashion and could have had four goals within 10 minutes}}
- to back oxen
- I will back him [a horse] straight.
- Great Jupiter, upon his eagle backed , / Appeared to me.
- to back books
- a gardenwith a vineyard backed
- the chalk cliffs which back the beach
- to back''' a letter; to '''back a note or legal document
- to back the oars