white adjective [comparative Whiter (hwīt′ẽr); superlative Whitest.] [OE. whit, AS. hwīt; akin to OFries. and OS. hwīt, D. wit, G. weiss, OHG. wīz, hwīz, Icel. hvītr, Sw. hvit, Dan. hvid, Goth. hweits, Lith. szveisti, to make bright, Russ. sviet’ light, Skr. çvēta white, çvit to be bright. √42. Cf. Wheat, Whitsunday.]

1. Reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; having the color of pure snow; snowy; – the opposite of black or dark; as, white paper; a white skin.

“Pearls white.” Chaucer.

White as the whitest lily on a stream. Longfellow.

2. Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear.

Or whispering with white lips, “The foe!

They come! they come!” Byron.

3. Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure.

White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear. Dryden.

No whiter page than Addison's remains. Pope.

4. Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary.

Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. Shak.

5. Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable.

On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life. Sir W. Scott.

6. Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling.

Come forth, my white spouse. Chaucer.

I am his white boy, and will not be gullet. 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 (Zool.)

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 larvae and pupae 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 (Zool.)

a fresh-water North American bass (Roccus chrysops) found in the Great Likes.

White bear (Zool.)