| animal black | Charcoal produced by incomplete combustion of animal tissues, especially bone. Synonym: animal black, bone black, bone charcoal. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| anti-black-tongue factor | A precursor of NAD, that is a product of the oxidation of nicotine. (18 Nov 1997) |
| black | 1. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest colour, or rather a destitution of all colour; as, a cloth has a good black. "Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night." (Shak) 2. A black pigment or dye. 3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black colour, or shaded with black; especially. A member or descendant of certain African races. 4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black; pl. Mourning garments of a black colour; funereal drapery. "Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like show death terrible." (Bacon) "That was the full time they used to wear blacks for the death of their fathers." (Sir T. North) 5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. "The black or sight of the eye." (Sir K. Digby) 6. A stain; a spot; a smooch. "Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust." (Rowley) Black and white, writing or print; as, I must have that statement in black and white. Blue black, a pigment of a blue black colour. 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 Berlin. 1. Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the colour of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark colour, the opposite of white; characterised by such a colour; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes. "O night, with hue so black!" (Shak) 2. In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the heavens black with clouds. "I spy a black, suspicious, threatening cloud." (Shak) 3. 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." 4. Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen; foreboding; as, to regard one with black looks. Black is often used in self-explaining compound words; as, black-eyed, black-faced, black-haired, black-visaged. 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. <chemistry> Black angel, the palm cockatoo. See Cockatoo. Black copper. Same as Melaconite. Black currant. <botany> An American hawk (Buteo Harlani). Synonym: Dark, murky, pitchy, inky, somber, dusky, gloomy, swart, Cimmerian, ebon, atrocious. Origin: OE. Blak, AS. Blaec; akin to Icel. Blakkr dark, swarthy, Sw. Black ink, Dan. Blaek, OHG. Blach, LG. & D. Blaken to burn with a black smoke. Not akin to AS. Blac, E. Bleak pallid. 98. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| black art | The art practiced by conjurers and witches; necromancy; conjuration; magic. This name was given in the Middle Ages to necromancy, under the idea that the latter term was derived from niger black, instead of nekros, a dead person, and manteia, divination. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| black bass | <zoology> 1. An edible, fresh water fish of the United States, of the genus Micropterus. The small-mouthed kind is M. Dolomiei; the largemouthed is M. Salmoides. 2. The sea bass. See Blackfish. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| black book | 1. One of several books of a political character, published at different times and for different purposes; so called either from the colour of the binding, or from the character of the contents. 2. A book compiled in the twelfth century, containing a description of the court of exchequer of England, an official statement of the revenues of the crown, etc. 3. A book containing details of the enormities practiced in the English monasteries and religious houses, compiled by order of their visitors under Henry VIII, to hasten their dissolution. 4. A book of admiralty law, of the highest authority, compiled in the reign of Edw. III. 5. A book kept for the purpose of registering the names of persons liable to censure or punishment, as in the English universities, or the English armies. 6. Any book which treats of necromancy. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| black box | (Jargon) descriptive of a method of reasoning or studying a problem, in which the methods and procedures, as such, are not described, explained, or perhaps even understood: conclusions relate solely to the empirical relationships observed, in some contexts, the term can mean a piece of apparatus or an experimental animal in which the pharmacologic or toxicologic pathway has not yet been worked out. CAAT box, a sequence of nucleotides found in a conserved region of DNA located "upstream" (5' direction) of the start points of eukaryotic transcription units; specific transcription factors appear to associate with it; found in many promoters at -75 bp with the consensus sequence: GG(T/C)CAATCT. Fracture box, an obsolete means of supporting a fractured leg, consisting of a container with only bottom and sides. (05 Mar 2000) |
| black cataract | A cataract in which the lens is hardened and of a dark brown colour. In the 19th century, German black cataract meant gutta severa (q.v.). Synonym: cataracta brunescens, cataracta nigra. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Black Death | <disease, organism> Yersinina pestis is a gram-negative, rod-shaped, faculatively anaerobic bacterial species in the family Enterobacteriaceae. It causes bubonic plaque, which is transmitted by rodent fleas. Historically known as the Black Plague, this disease devastated Europe and Asia in the 1300s. It still exists today and is characterised by sudden high fever, chills, excessively swollen and tender lymph nodes (buboes), followed by tissue bleeding and gangrene. Other complications include pneumonia and septicaemia. (12 Nov 1997) |
| black disease | A disease of sheep caused by the bacterium Clostridium novyi, which invades livers damaged by the fluke Fasciola hepatica and causes severe necrosis and death; this disease occurs in nearly all parts of the world, including the U.S. Sometimes called black disease because of the extensive haemorrhages seen on the inner surface of the pelt when it is removed. Synonym: black disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| black-dot ringworm | Tinea capitis due most commonly to Trichophyton tonsurans or T. Violaceum. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Black, Douglas | <person> Scottish physician, *1909. See: Black's formula. (05 Mar 2000) |
| black eye | Ecchymosis of the lids and their surroundings. (05 Mar 2000) |
| black fever | An acute tick-borne illness caused by the bacteria Rickettsia rickettsii. The disease is characterised by sudden onset of headache, chills and fever which can persist for 2-3 weeks. A characteristic rash appears on the extremities and trunk about the 4th day of illness. (27 Sep 1997) |
| black friar | A friar of the Dominican order; called also predicant and preaching friar; in France, Jacobin. Also, sometimes, a Benedictine. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |