black
    adj 1: being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having
           little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all
           incident light; "black leather jackets"; "as black as
           coal"; "rich black soil" [ant: white]
    2: of or belonging to a racial group having dark skin especially
       of sub-Saharan African origin; "a great people--a black
       people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of
       civilization"- Martin Luther King Jr. [ant: white]
    3: marked by anger or resentment or hostility; "black looks";
       "black words"
    4: offering little or no hope; "the future looked black";
       "prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has always
       been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a dim view of
       things" [syn: black, bleak, dim]
    5: stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or
       dishonorable; "black deeds"; "a black lie"; "his black heart
       has concocted yet another black deed"; "Darth Vader of the
       dark side"; "a dark purpose"; "dark undercurrents of ethnic
       hostility"; "the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on
       punishing him"-Thomas Hardy [syn: black, dark,
       sinister]
    6: (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire
       consequences; bringing ruin; "the stock market crashed on
       Black Friday"; "a calamitous defeat"; "the battle was a
       disastrous end to a disastrous campaign"; "such doctrines, if
       true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory"- Charles
       Darwin; "it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win
       it"- Douglas MacArthur; "a fateful error" [syn: black,
       calamitous, disastrous, fatal, fateful]
    7: (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood;
       "a face black with fury" [syn: black, blackened]
    8: extremely dark; "a black moonless night"; "through the pitch-
       black woods"; "it was pitch-dark in the cellar" [syn:
       black, pitch-black, pitch-dark]
    9: harshly ironic or sinister; "black humor"; "a grim joke";
       "grim laughter"; "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to
       savage mordant wit" [syn: black, grim, mordant]
    10: (of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading; "black
        propaganda"
    11: distributed or sold illicitly; "the black economy pays no
        taxes" [syn: bootleg, black, black-market,
        contraband, smuggled]
    12: (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing
        disgrace or shame; "Man...has written one of his blackest
        records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands"- Rachel
        Carson; "an ignominious retreat"; "inglorious defeat"; "an
        opprobrious monument to human greed"; "a shameful display of
        cowardice" [syn: black, disgraceful, ignominious,
        inglorious, opprobrious, shameful]
    13: (of coffee) without cream or sugar
    14: soiled with dirt or soot; "with feet black from playing
        outdoors"; "his shirt was black within an hour" [syn:
        black, smutty]
    n 1: the quality or state of the achromatic color of least
         lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white) [syn:
         black, blackness, inkiness] [ant: white,
         whiteness]
    2: total absence of light; "they fumbled around in total
       darkness"; "in the black of night" [syn: total darkness,
       lightlessness, blackness, pitch blackness, black]
    3: British chemist who identified carbon dioxide and who
       formulated the concepts of specific heat and latent heat
       (1728-1799) [syn: Black, Joseph Black]
    4: popular child actress of the 1930's (born in 1928) [syn:
       Black, Shirley Temple Black, Shirley Temple]
    5: a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose
       ancestors came from Africa) [syn: Black, Black person,
       blackamoor, Negro, Negroid]
    6: (board games) the darker pieces [ant: white]
    7: black clothing (worn as a sign of mourning); "the widow wore
       black"
    v 1: make or become black; "The smoke blackened the ceiling";
         "The ceiling blackened" [syn: blacken, melanize,
         melanise, nigrify, black] [ant: white, whiten]

Black \Black\, adv.
   Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce
   blackness.
   [1913 Webster]

Black \Black\, n.
   1. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest
      color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth
      has a good black.
      [1913 Webster]

            Black is the badge of hell,
            The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A black pigment or dye.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or
      shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain
      African races.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black; pl. (Obs.)
      Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery.
      [1913 Webster]

            Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the
            like show death terrible.             --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

            That was the full time they used to wear blacks for
            the death of their fathers.           --Sir T.
                                                  North.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest
      by being black.
      [1913 Webster]

            The black or sight of the eye.        --Sir K.
                                                  Digby.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. A stain; a spot; a smooch.
      [1913 Webster]

            Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks
            of lust.                              --Rowley.
      [1913 Webster]

   Black and white, writing or print; as, I must have that
      statement in black and white.

   Blue black, a pigment of a blue black color.

   Ivory black, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by
      calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief
      ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing.

   Berlin black. See under Berlin.
      [1913 Webster]

Black \Black\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blacked; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Blacking.] [See Black, a., and cf. Blacken.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To make black; to blacken; to soil; to sully.
      [1913 Webster]

            They have their teeth blacked, both men and women,
            for they say a dog hath his teeth white, therefore
            they will black theirs.               --Hakluyt.
      [1913 Webster]

            Sins which black thy soul.            --J. Fletcher.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To make black and shining, as boots or a stove, by
      applying blacking and then polishing with a brush.
      [1913 Webster]

Black \Black\ (bl[a^]k), a. [OE. blak, AS. bl[ae]c; akin to
   Icel. blakkr dark, swarthy, Sw. bl[aum]ck ink, Dan. bl[ae]k,
   OHG. blach, LG. & D. blaken to burn with a black smoke. Not
   akin to AS. bl[=a]c, E. bleak pallid. [root]98.]
   1. Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the
      color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark
      color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a
      color; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes.
      [1913 Webster]

            O night, with hue so black!           --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in
      darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the
      heavens black with clouds.
      [1913 Webster]

            I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Fig.: Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness;
      destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked;
      cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. "This day's black
      fate." "Black villainy." "Arise, black vengeance." "Black
      day." "Black despair." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen;
      foreboding; as, to regard one with black looks.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Black is often used in self-explaining compound words;
         as, black-eyed, black-faced, black-haired,
         black-visaged.
         [1913 Webster]

   Black act, the English statute 9 George I, which makes it a
      felony to appear armed in any park or warren, etc., or to
      hunt or steal deer, etc., with the face blackened or
      disguised. Subsequent acts inflicting heavy penalties for
      malicious injuries to cattle and machinery have been
      called black acts.

   Black angel (Zool.), a fish of the West Indies and Florida
      (Holacanthus tricolor), with the head and tail yellow,
      and the middle of the body black.

   Black antimony (Chem.), the black sulphide of antimony,
      Sb2S3, used in pyrotechnics, etc.

   Black bear (Zool.), the common American bear (Ursus
      Americanus).

   Black beast. See B[^e]te noire.

   Black beetle (Zool.), the common large cockroach (Blatta
      orientalis).

   Black bonnet (Zool.), the black-headed bunting (Embriza
      Sch[oe]niclus) of Europe.

   Black canker, a disease in turnips and other crops,
      produced by a species of caterpillar.

   Black cat (Zool.), the fisher, a quadruped of North America
      allied to the sable, but larger. See Fisher.

   Black cattle, any bovine cattle reared for slaughter, in
      distinction from dairy cattle. [Eng.]

   Black cherry. See under Cherry.

   Black cockatoo (Zool.), the palm cockatoo. See Cockatoo.
      

   Black copper. Same as Melaconite.

   Black currant. (Bot.) See Currant.

   Black diamond. (Min.) See Carbonado.

   Black draught (Med.), a cathartic medicine, composed of
      senna and magnesia.

   Black drop (Med.), vinegar of opium; a narcotic preparation
      consisting essentially of a solution of opium in vinegar.
      

   Black earth, mold; earth of a dark color. --Woodward.

   Black flag, the flag of a pirate, often bearing in white a
      skull and crossbones; a signal of defiance.

   Black flea (Zool.), a flea beetle (Haltica nemorum)
      injurious to turnips.

   Black flux, a mixture of carbonate of potash and charcoal,
      obtained by deflagrating tartar with half its weight of
      niter. --Brande & C.

   Black Forest [a translation of G. Schwarzwald], a forest in
      Baden and W["u]rtemburg, in Germany; a part of the ancient
      Hercynian forest.

   Black game, or Black grouse. (Zool.) See Blackcock,
      Grouse, and Heath grouse.

   Black grass (Bot.), a grasslike rush of the species Juncus
      Gerardi, growing on salt marshes, and making good hay.

   Black gum (Bot.), an American tree, the tupelo or
      pepperidge. See Tupelo.

   Black Hamburg (grape) (Bot.), a sweet and juicy variety of
      dark purple or "black" grape.

   Black horse (Zool.), a fish of the Mississippi valley
      (Cycleptus elongatus), of the sucker family; the
      Missouri sucker.

   Black lemur (Zool.), the Lemurniger of Madagascar; the
      acoumbo of the natives.

   Black list, a list of persons who are for some reason
      thought deserving of censure or punishment; -- esp. a list
      of persons stigmatized as insolvent or untrustworthy, made
      for the protection of tradesmen or employers. See
      Blacklist, v. t.

   Black manganese (Chem.), the black oxide of manganese,
      MnO2.

   Black Maria, the close wagon in which prisoners are carried
      to or from jail.

   Black martin (Zool.), the chimney swift. See Swift.

   Black moss (Bot.), the common so-called long moss of the
      southern United States. See Tillandsia.

   Black oak. See under Oak.

   Black ocher. See Wad.

   Black pigment, a very fine, light carbonaceous substance,
      or lampblack, prepared chiefly for the manufacture of
      printers' ink. It is obtained by burning common coal tar.
      

   Black plate, sheet iron before it is tinned. --Knight.

   Black quarter, malignant anthrax with engorgement of a
      shoulder or quarter, etc., as of an ox.

   Black rat (Zool.), one of the species of rats (Mus
      rattus), commonly infesting houses.

   Black rent. See Blackmail, n., 3.

   Black rust, a disease of wheat, in which a black, moist
      matter is deposited in the fissures of the grain.

   Black sheep, one in a family or company who is unlike the
      rest, and makes trouble.

   Black silver. (Min.) See under Silver.

   Black and tan, black mixed or spotted with tan color or
      reddish brown; -- used in describing certain breeds of
      dogs.

   Black tea. See under Tea.

   Black tin (Mining), tin ore (cassiterite), when dressed,
      stamped and washed, ready for smelting. It is in the form
      of a black powder, like fine sand. --Knight.

   Black walnut. See under Walnut.

   Black warrior (Zool.), an American hawk (Buteo Harlani).
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Dark; murky; pitchy; inky; somber; dusky; gloomy; swart;
        Cimmerian; ebon; atrocious.
        [1913 Webster]

Black
   properly the absence of all colour. In Prov. 7:9 the Hebrew word
   means, as in the margin of the Revised Version, "the pupil of
   the eye." It is translated "apple" of the eye in Deut. 32:10;
   Ps. 17:8; Prov. 7:2. It is a different word which is rendered
   "black" in Lev. 13:31,37; Cant. 1:5; 5:11; and Zech. 6:2, 6. It
   is uncertain what the "black marble" of Esther 1:6 was which
   formed a part of the mosaic pavement.
   

Black, AL -- U.S. town in Alabama
   Population (2000):    202
   Housing Units (2000): 102
   Land area (2000):     3.080790 sq. miles (7.979208 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    3.080790 sq. miles (7.979208 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            07120
   Located within:       Alabama (AL), FIPS 01
   Location:             31.011112 N, 85.744365 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     36314
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Black, AL
    Black