Definition of "purple"

purple

/ˈpɜː(ɹ).pəl/

noun
plural purples
1. A color that is a dark blend of red and blue; dark magenta.
  Quotations
  Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold / The Clouds that on his Weſtern Throne attend.
  1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 596–597
2. (colour theory) Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a colour wheel between violet and red.
3. Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple robe or mantle worn by Ancient Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity.
  Quotations
  Thy head as Carmelus: and the heares of thy head as a kings purple tyed to cundite pipes.
  1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], Canticle of Canticles 7:5, page 341
4. (by extension) Imperial power, because the colour purple was worn by emperors and kings.
  Quotations
  He was born in the purple.
  1776-1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  When we picture to ourselves his [Napoleon’s] dawning military genius at Toulon—his daring and decided politics in the storms of the Revolution—his Cæsarian ambition in assuming the purple—[…]
  1829 March, “Napoleon a Sainte Helene. Opinion d’un Medecin sur la Maladie de l’Empereur Napoleon, et sur la Cause de sa Mort; offerte a son Fils, au Jour de sa Majorite. Par S. Hereau, […]”, in James Johnson, editor, The Medico-Chirurgical Review, and Journal of Practical Medicine, volume X, number XX, London: […] S. Highley, […], page 434
  The immediate successors of Augustus indulged in appalling cruelties towards senators and towards possible competitors for the purple.
  1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.29
5. Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk.
6. The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana.
  Quotations
  "Sure, some purple Owlsley."
  2005, Tipi Paul, Wanna Smoke?: The Adventures of a Storyteller, page 14
  “Purple smoke is no joke. Especially when it is real purple. The smell, taste, and high is easily one of the best in the world. One bowl of some purple Kush, and I'm done for a couple of hours.
  2010, Mark Arax, West of the West, page 221
  She preferred to smoke some good purple, but getting high wasn't an option.
  2011, Danielle Santiago, Allure of the Game, page 148
7. (medicine) Purpura.
8. Earcockle, a disease of wheat.
9. Any of the species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis).
10. A cardinalate.
11. (slang, US) Ellipsis of purple drank.
  Quotations
  Fishtailing out the parking lot leaving Magic / Sipping on the purple and the yellow, drinking magic
  2012, “Magic”, in Pluto, performed by Future ft. T.I.
12. (UK, slang) Synonym of snakebite and black.
adjective
comparative purpler or more purple, superlative purplest or most purple
1. Having a colour/color that is a dark blend of red and blue.
  Quotations
  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.
  1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, page 40
2. (US politics) Not predominantly red or blue, but having a mixture of Democrat and Republican support.
  Quotations
  In the end, Nevada remained the quintessential purple state. On the maps that television used to illustrate political trends, Republican states were red and Democratic blue. Nevada blended the colors. It had a bright blue core in the heart of Las Vegas, surrounded by a purple suburban belt. Most of the rest of the state was bright red, especially in the rural counties.
  2010, Hal K. Rothman, The Making of Modern Nevada, University of Nevada Press, page 162
  As Mr. Friedlander conceived it, Reason was neither strictly right-wing libertarian nor strictly left — in modern parlance, neither red nor blue but a purple amalgam of the two.
  2011 May 7, Margalit Fox, “Lanny Friedlander, Founder of Reason Magazine, Dies at 63”, in The New York Times‎
  Political colorists can be promiscuous in calling states purple, but my state is true to that hue. I speak of North Carolina, and I have receipts: While our junior senator, Ted Budd, is a Republican who won election to a first term in 2022 by about three percentage points, our governor, Roy Cooper, is a Democrat who won election to a second term in 2020 by more than four.
  2023 May 4, Frank Bruni, “Republicans Are Running Wild in My State”, in The New York Times‎
3. (in Netherlands and Belgium) Mixed between social democrats and liberals.
4. Imperial; regal.
  Quotations
  Grovel on the earth: aye, hide / In the dust thy purple pride!
  1818 October, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Lines Written among the Euganean Hills, October, 1818”, in Rosalind and Helen, a Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […], published 1819, page 82
5. Blood-red; bloody.
  Quotations
  O may ſuch purple teares be alway ſhed
  c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene vi], page 171, column 2
  Wars, horrid Wars I view; a field of Blood; / And Tyber rolling with a Purple Flood.
  1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], page 366, lines 133–134
6. (of language) Extravagantly ornate, like purple prose.
7. (motor racing, of a sector, lap, etc.) Completed in the fastest time so far in a given session.
verb
third-person singular simple present purples, present participle purpling, simple past and past participle purpled
1. (intransitive) To turn purple in colour.
  Quotations
  [T]he Capri cliffs, the tops of which were still pink against the purpling sky.
  1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 143
  The gang leader purpled and raised his gun.
  1999, David Edelstein, In Nomine: Corporeal Player's Guide, Steve Jackson Games,, page 8
2. (transitive) To dye purple.
  Quotations
  Year after year unto her feet, / She lying on her couch alone, / Across the purpled coverlet, / The maiden's jet-black hair has grown, […]
  1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Day-Dream. The Sleeping Palace.”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 152
3. (transitive) To clothe in purple.

Definition of "purple"

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