purple

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“
I owe it to her, and the purple--the purple is ours!

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Definitions (72)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. noun Any of a group of colors with a hue between that of violet and red.
  2. noun Cloth of a color between violet and red, formerly worn as a symbol of royalty or high office.
  3. noun Imperial power; high rank: born to the purple.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (53)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Morey has a green, purple, and yellow dinosaurus, with a liberal sprinkling of orange-purple mountains, red and yellow sky, and nice amateurish black outlines. —  Astounding Stories January, 1935
  • Great will be the rejoicing in the Tuileries This baby born in the purple was the Prince Imperial, whose fate beggars tragedy; who went to gather laurels on an African desert and fell a victim to a savage ambuscade—his beautiful body stuck almost as full of cruel darts as that of the martyred young St. Sebastian. On March 21st the long-delayed treaty of peace was signed. —  Queen Victoria, Her Girlhood And Womanhood
  • It comes in bronze and silver but this purple is the ONLY one that is cheesy fab. —  The Bag Snob: Reviews of Designer Handbags, Authentic Designer Purses, and Leather Bags
  • (And I can't "see" purple, which is Michele's favorite color, and that pisses her off.) 19. —  The Official Blog of John Carlton
  • When ripe its color turns to purple which is closely similar to blueberries. —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
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Words tagged purple

prelate · porphyreous · lilacine · cupreoviolaceous · atroviolaceous · purpureous · violety · violetish · violescent · violaceous · mauvish

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English purpul, from purpure, purple garment, from Latin purpura, shellfish yielding purple dye, purple cloth, purple, from Greek porphurā.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English purpul, earlier purpre, pourpre, also purpur, purpure, purpour (cf. Anglo-Saxon purpure, a purple garment, purpuren, purple), from Old French porpre, pourpre, pouple, pople, Anglo-French also purpille, French pourpre = Provencal porpra, polpra = Spanish púrpura = Portuguese purpura = Italian porpora = Dutch purper = Middle Low German purper, purpur = Old High German purpura, Middle High German purper, German purpur = Icelandic purpuri = Swedish Danish purpur = Gothic (Moesogothic) paurpaura, paurpura, purple, from Latin purpura, the purple-fish, purple dye, from Greek πορφύρα, the purple-fish; cf. πορφύρεος (later also poetical πόρφυρος), purple, orig. applied to the surging sea, dark, prob. redupl. of φύρειν, mix up, mingle, confound, = Latin furere, rage: see fury. Cf. porphyry, from the same Greek source.
  2. from purple, adjective
 

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/ˈpərpl/
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