Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make black.
- v. To sully or defame: a scandal that blackened the mayor's name.
- v. To coat (fish or meat, for example) with pepper and other spices and then quickly sear in a very hot skillet, thereby producing meat that is black on the outside but tender on the inside.
- v. To become dark or black: The day blackened into night.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To grow black or dark.
- To make black; darken.
- Figuratively, to sully; make infamous; defame; cause to appear immoral or vile: as, vice blackens the character.
- In founding, to coat (the face of a mold) with graphite, or any mixture used for the purpose, in order to create a surface which will gasify under the heat of the molten metal. The thin film of gas so produced prevents any impression of the grain of the mold-surface being made and gives a smooth finish.
Wiktionary
- v. To make black.
- v. To make dirty.
- v. To defame or sully.
- v. To cook (meat or fish) by coating with pepper, etc., and quickly searing in a hot pan.
- v. intransitive To become black.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To make or render black.
- v. To make dark; to darken; to cloud.
- v. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous.
- v. To grow black or dark.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make or become black
- v. burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color
Etymologies
- black + -en (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Although there are two distinct schools of thought on grilled chicken, one that advocates par boiling and one that does not, Mexican cooks do not par boil and are not afraid to let the chicken skin blacken on the outside while the chicken cooks through.”
“No doubt the Clinton campaign wants to "blacken" Obama however they can, but do they really want to make Clinton the candidate of the loony racist wing of the Democratic party?”
“I've just found another person asserting that maybe -- just maybe -- we should have something approaching conclusive evidence before alleging that the Clintons hatched a dastardly and bigoted scheme to "blacken" Obama and provoke a white backlash.”
“The government then played only a small portion of a conversation between Mr. Rock and Mr. Pellicano -- politely leaving out the part of the call in which Mr. Pellicano promises to "blacken" up Ms. Zsibrita and Mr. Rock seems to be on board with the plan.”
“If Machen (rhymes with "blacken") isn't widely read today, it's not because his stories have goofy premises -- so does Bram Stoker's yarn about a blood-sucking Transylvanian who sleeps in a coffin.”
“In Caracas, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said the arrests were a U.S. maneuver to "blacken" the reputation of "progressive" governments in South America.”
“Speculation is such a position will go to a black candidate because the party has realised the need to "blacken" its leadership.”
“The Democratic Party hopes to "blacken" its leadership in the run up to April 1994 elections, leader Zach de Beer told a news conference in Durban on Wednesday.”
“No matter what I do, I can't seem to get it to "blacken" so I can check it.”
“The statement suggests Mzamane had a role in the mistreatment of the students, "which clearly would tend to 'blacken' plaintiff's reputation or injure her in her profession," U.S.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘blacken’.
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black phrases/words
Tolkien worked in the black section
of the dictionary at one point in his lifeblack-about, Black Act, black afraid, black Africa, black African, black amber, Black America, Black American, black and blae, black and blue, black angry, black ant and 578 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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Ending
satan, treason, foreign tension, blacken, reason, hidden, intentions, fallen demon, diction, slogan, jargon, sermon and 27 more...
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Malcolm-Hex
Words where 'black' has a negative connotation.
The awareness of this has been more publically discussed since the 60's, however with the 2008 presidental race, I am curious if any of ...black sheep, blacklist, blackmail, blackball, black hat, black mark, black day, black magic, black market, blackhole, black monday, black comedy and 65 more...
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to nounen and adjectiven
Verbs constructed with the -en suffix.
hearten, gladden, flatten, smarten, blacken, frighten, lighten, brighten, liven, shorten, heighten, fatten and 23 more...
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