Paterson J. A Dictionary of Colour - A Lexicon of the Language of Colour (анг. яз.)
Подождите немного. Документ загружается.
Blank
Y
su -y
A suffix capable of being appended to some colours to produce an adjective
indicating a hesitancy in the exact shade intended, such as ‘browny’,’greeny’,
‘plummy’ or ‘yellowy’. Frequently used in conjunction with another colour as in
‘greeny-blue’. Compare ‘greenish-blue’ which has more of the feel of a noun.
Compare also those few colours which can take the ‘-ly’ suffix (see blackly, bluely,
brownly, greenly, greyly, pinkly, redly, silverly, whitely and yellowly) so as
to create an adverb rather than the adjective formed merely by using the ‘-y’ suffix.
c Yale blue
A reddish-blue colour used as the distinctive colours of Yale University.
n yehma
A red pigment used by the ancient Peruvians for painting the body and face and
made from cinnabar.
c yellow
The colour of the daffodil, egg yolk and the rind of ripened lemons; colours with
a wavelength in the range of approximately 585 to 575 nanometres. One of the
three subtractive primary colours. When Her Majesty the Queen visited Brunei
in July 1998 she apparently avoided wearing yellow – a colour reserved for the
Sultan. In China, yellow was the colour used by the emperor but in the West it
has perjorative connotations. It is a slang term for cowardly, hence ‘yellow-bellied’
424 A DICTIONARY OF COLOUR
Z Y XWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
425Z Y
and ‘having a yellow streak’; also slang for jealous. The colour represents jealousy,
cowardice and adultery in symbolism. The colour of the medieval fool. In
electrical wiring, the colour designates the earth. Yellow and green uniforms are
being worn in some British prisons by those prisoners who are regarded as possible
escapees. See also blue. The favourite colour of the artist J M W Turner (1775-
1851) and his hallmark. In October 2002 litigation was initiated against the UK
Government in an attempt to stop police forces from painting traffic speed cameras
yellow on the grounds that cameras would be less likely to inhibit speeding if they
were easily spotted from a distance.’Yellow’ derives from the Indo-European gel,
ghel or gohl from which we have evolved many associated words such as gold,
glaucous, glistening and yolk (see yolk-coloured).
c Yellow
One of the 140 colours in the X11 Color Set. It has hex code #FFFF00.
n yellow 2G
A yellow food colourant (E107) used particularly in soft drinks.
n Yellow Arsenic
See orpiment.
n Yellow Book
The term used in the UK to describe various business publications including
the rules of the London Stock Exchange (now contained in the Purple Book) and
the UK legislation concerning income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax and
other taxes produced each year by Butterworths Tolley. In France certain official
publications and reports are referred to as Yellow Books.
n yellow card
The card shown by a referee in football to a player for a foul or other offence.
See red card.
n yellow dog
A term of contempt and now used in the US in reference to
contracts of employment outlawing the membership of trade
unions.
n yellow earth
Ochre.
adjective a
adverb adv
a colour c
noun n
prefix pr
suffix su
verb vb
426 A DICTIONARY OF COLOUR
n yellow fever
A tropical and sub-tropical infectious disease in human beings spread by the
mosquito.
n yellow flag
A flag flown by vessels to indicate that there is no disease aboard.
n yellow goethite
An ancient iron oxide used as a pigment – see pigment.
c YellowGreen
One of the colours in the X11 Color Set. It has hex code #9ACD32.
n yellowing
The yellow discolouration, in particular, of paintwork.
adj yellowing
Nothing to do with the colour but a combination of yelping and bellowing and
hence a ‘blend’ or ‘portmanteau’ word. ‘Let us sit down and mark their yellowing
noise’, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus Act 2, Scene 3.
a yellowish
See -ish.
n yellow jack
Another name for yellow fever and another name for yellow flag.
n yellow jersey
The garment worn by the rider who has the lowest cumulative time for all previous
stages of Le Tour de France cycle race. The green jersey is given to the rider with
the greatest number of points awarded for sprinting. The ‘king of the mountains’
wears a white jersey with pink spots (called the Polka-Dot Jersey) and the fastest
overall young rider bears a plain white jersey. Le Tour de France was created by
Henri Desgrange, the editor of the cycling magazine, L’Auto, in 1903 but it was
not until 1919 that he conceived the idea of the maillot jaune opting for a yellow
coloured jersey partly because his magazine was printed on yellow paper. The
green jersey introduced in 1953 was green because its first sponsor sold
gardening supplies. The Polka-Dot Jersey introduced in 1975 derives from the
wrapper design of its sponsor, the chocolate company, Poulain.
427Z Y
n yellow journalism
That kind of cheap journalism which adopts a sensationalist approach often relying
upon lurid descriptions. The term derives from the yellow ink used in the New
York World at the end of the 19th century.
n yellow light
The equivalent in the US of the UK amber traffic light.
n yellow lines
Yellow markings on the surface of thoroughfares and carriageways indicating
a variety of restrictions on drivers of vehicles as regards waiting, parking, loading
and unloading. See also red route.
adv yellowly
With a yellow aspect.
c yellow ochre
An ochre used as a yellowish-brown pigment.
n Yellow Pages™
The trademark of the well-known telephone directory which lists entries by
according to their trade classification.
n yellow peril
A derogatory term no longer appropriate to use for Chinese, Japanese or other
orientals.
n yellow ribbon
The ribbon traditionally worn in the 19th century by women in the US awaiting
the return of their men from battle.
n yellow star
The yellow six-pointed star which Jews were required to wear both before and
during WW2 particularly by occupying Nazi forces. Such stars were also used
in Nazi concentration camps where patches and badges of various colours were
required to be worn to indicate a variety of other groupings. Brown triangles
indicated gypsies; purple or violet – Jehovah’s witnesses; green – habitual criminals;
red – political in-mates; pink – homosexuals; black triangles indicated members
of a supposedly asocial grouping including prostitutes and lesbians (and in some
camps, gypsies) and a blue triangle indicated emigrants.
428 A DICTIONARY OF COLOUR
n yellows
Jaundice particularly in horses – ‘rayed with the yellows’, Shakespeare’s Taming
of the Shrew Act 3, Scene 2.
a yolk-coloured
Having the colour of the yolk of the egg; also ‘yolk-yellow’.
c yolk-yellow
See yolk-coloured.
Blank
Z
n zaffer
Oxide used as a pigment for pottery.
a zebra-striped
Having the black and white markings of the zebra particularly as regards fabrics.
c zenith blue
A violetish blue also known simply as ‘zenith’.
n zigzag
A pattern or line resembling the outline followed by the teeth of a woodsaw; hence
‘zigzag design’.
c zinc green
See chrome green.
n zinc oxide
A white powder used as a pigment in the manufacture of zinc white paint devel-
oped in 1782 in France as a substitute for the poisonous lead white. Also referred
to as ‘philosophers’ wool’.
430 A DICTIONARY OF COLOUR
Z YXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
431Z
n zinc white
A transparent white oil paint composed of zinc oxide. Also known as Chinese
white and first manufactured in 1834 as a water-colour by Winsor & Newton.
Known also as ‘snow white’.
n zinc yellow
A yellowish pigment made from zinc chromate.
n zing
Zest or vigour, but according to ‘Colour’, Mitchell Beazley, 1980, the word denotes
the effect in a work of art or design where certain colours, when incorporated
in small doses in a larger display of saturated colour, create an effective contrasting
impact.
c zinnober
See cinnabar and cinnabar green.
c zircon
Green ‘Parisian art shade’.
c zircon blue
Light blue.
c Zulu brown
A reddish-brown.
adjective a
adverb adv
a colour c
noun n
prefix pr
suffix su
verb vb
blue.
red
Artists
can colour
the sky
because they
know it’s
stupid
Those of us who aren’t
artists, must colour things
the way they really are, or
people will think we’re
JULES FEIFFER ( 1929- PRESENT)