Colour, kul′ur, n. a property of light which causes bodies to have different appearances to the eye: the hue or appearance which bodies present to the eye: appearance of blood in the face: appearance: pretext: tint: paint: false show: kind: (pl.) a flag, ensign, or standard: paints.—v.t. to put colour on: to stain: to paint: to set in a fair light: to exaggerate: to misrepresent.—v.i. to show colour: to blush.—adjs. Colorif′ic, containing or producing colours; Col′ourable, having a fair appearance: designed to conceal.—adv. Col′ourably.—n. Colourā′tion.—adj. Col′our-blind, unable to distinguish between colours.—n. Col′our-blind′ness.—adjs. Col′oured, having colour: (Spens.) having a specious appearance, deceitful: of the complexion, other than white.—ns. Col′ouring, any substance used to give colour: manner of applying colours: specious appearance; Col′ourist, one who colours or paints: one who excels in colouring.—adj. Col′ourless, without colour: transparent: neutral.—ns. Col′ourman, one who prepares and sells colours; Col′our-ser′geant, the sergeant who guards the colours of a regiment.—adj. Col′oury, having much colour.—Colour a pipe, to cause a tobacco-pipe, esp. a meerschaum, to take on a brown or black colour, by smoking.—A person of colour, a person of negro blood.—Change colour, to turn pale: to blush; Come off with flying colours, to do something with great éclat; Come out in one's true colours, to appear in one's real character; Desert one's colours, to abandon one's post or duty; Fast colour, a colour which does not fade when washed; Fight under false colours, to put forward a false pretence as a cover for one's actions; Give colour, to give plausibility: Hang out false colours, to put up another's flag, to pretend to belong to another party than one really does; High colour, pronounced redness of complexion; Lose colour, to lose one's good looks; Nail one's colours to the mast, to commit one's self to some party or plan of action; Off colour, faded: past one's best; Paint in bright colours, to embellish: to exaggerate; Primary colours, the three colours, red, green, and violet, from which the others, called Secondary colours, can be obtained; Show one's colours, to show what are one's inclinations, opinions, or character; Stick to one's colours, to adhere to one's party or opinions; Under colour of, under the pretext of; Without colour, without disguise: colourless: without individuality. [Fr.,—L. color; akin to celāre, to cover, to conceal.]
Colporteur, kol′pōrt-ār, or kol′pōrt-ėr, n. a peddler, esp. one selling tracts and religious books.—n. Col′portāge, the distribution of books by colporteurs. [Fr. colporteur, from col—L. collum, the neck, and porter—L. portāre, to carry.]
Colt, kōlt, n. a young horse: an awkward fellow: an inexperienced youth: (B.) a young camel or ass: (naut.) a rope's end.—v.i. (Spens.) to frisk like a colt.—v.t. (Shak.) to cheat: to give the rope's end, to beat.—adj. Colt′ish, like a colt: frisky: wanton.—ns. Colt's′-foot, a composite plant with large soft leaves once used for asthma and coughing; Colt's′-tooth, one of a horse's first set of teeth; (Shak.) love of youthful pleasures: wantonness. [A.S. colt; Sw. kult, a young boar, a stout boy.]
Colter, Coulter, kōltėr, n. the fore-iron of a plough. [A.S. culter—L. culter, a knife.]
Coluber, kol′ub-ėr, n. a genus of non-venomous snakes, of almost world-wide distribution.—n. Colub′riad (Cowper).—adj. Col′ubrine. [L. coluber, a snake.]
Columbian, kō-lum′bi-an, adj. pertaining to Columbia, a name of America.—ns. Colum′bate, a salt or compound of columbic acid with a base; Colum′bite, the native ore of columbium; Colum′bium, a metallic element now called niobium. [Columbia, America, from Columbus (1447-1506), its discoverer.]
Columbine, kol′um-bīn, adj. of or like a dove: dove-coloured.—n. a genus of plants (Aquilegia) having five coloured sepals, which soon fall off, and five petals, each terminating below in a horn-shaped spur or nectary: in pantomimes, the sweetheart of Harlequin (q.v.).—ns. Columbā′rium, a dovecot or pigeon-house: one of the niches or pigeon-holes in a particular kind of sepulchral chamber in which the urns containing the ashes of dead bodies burned were deposited; Col′umbary, a pigeon-house or dovecot. [L. columba, a dove.]
Columel, Columella. See Column.
Column, kol′um, n. a long, round body, used to support or adorn a building: any upright body or mass like a column: a body of troops drawn up in deep files: a perpendicular row of lines in a book.—ns. Col′ūmel, a small column; Colūmel′la, the central axis of a spiral univalve; the auditory ossicle of the amphibian ear: the central axis of the spore-case of mosses: in the opening of fruits, what remains in the centre after the carpels have split away.—adjs. Colum′nal, Colum′nar, formed in columns.—n. Columna′rity.—adjs. Col′umned, Colum′niāted, Colum′nated, having columns.—n. Colum′niātion. [L. columen, columna, akin to celsus, high; Gr. kolōnē, a hill.]
Colure, kō-lūr′, n. (astron.) one of two great circles supposed to intersect each other at right angles in the poles of the equator. [Gr. kolourus—kolos, docked, oura, tail.]