ALL meanings of blacking
black·ing
B b - noun blacking any preparation, esp one containing lampblack, for giving a black finish to shoes, metals, etc 3
- noun blacking a black polish, as for shoes 3
- adjective blacking characterized by absence of light; enveloped in darkness: a black night. 1
- adjective blacking (sometimes initial capital letter) pertaining or belonging to any of the various populations characterized by dark skin pigmentation, specifically the dark-skinned peoples of Africa, Oceania, and Australia. African American. 1
- adjective blacking soiled or stained with dirt: That shirt was black within an hour. 1
- adjective blacking gloomy; pessimistic; dismal: a black outlook. 1
- adjective blacking deliberately; harmful; inexcusable: a black lie. 1
- adjective blacking boding ill; sullen or hostile; threatening: black words; black looks. 1
- adjective blacking (of coffee or tea) without milk or cream. 1
- adjective blacking without any moral quality or goodness; evil; wicked: His black heart has concocted yet another black deed. 1
- adjective blacking indicating censure, disgrace, or liability to punishment: a black mark on one's record. 1
- adjective blacking marked by disaster or misfortune: black areas of drought; Black Friday. 1
- adjective blacking wearing black or dark clothing or armor: the black prince. 1
- noun blacking Black, colored, and Negro—words that describe or name the dark-skinned peoples of sub-Saharan Africa and their descendants—have had a complex social history in the United States. A term that was once acceptable may now be offensive, and one that was once offensive may now be acceptable. Colored, for example, first used in colonial North America, was an appropriate referential term until the 1920s, when it was supplanted by Negro. Now colored is perceived not only as old-fashioned but offensive. It survives primarily in the name of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization formed when the word was not considered derogatory. Describing someone as “a person of color,” however, is not offensive. That term, an inclusive one that can refer to anyone who is not white, is frequently used by members of the African American community. Negro remained the overwhelming term of choice until the mid-1960s. That decade saw a burgeoning civil-rights movement, which furthered a sense that Negro was contaminated by its long association with discrimination as well as its closeness to the disparaging and deeply offensive n-word. The emergence of the black power movement fostered the emergence of black as a primary descriptive term, as in “black pride.” By the mid-1970s black had become common within and outside the black community. But Negro has not entirely disappeared. It remains in the names of such organizations as the United Negro College Fund, people still refer to Negro spirituals, and some older people of color continue to identify with the term they have known since childhood. Negro then, while not offensive in established or historical contexts, is now looked upon in contemporary speech and writing as not only antiquated but highly likely to offend. Black remains perhaps the single most widely used term today. It has outlived the briefly popular Afro-American and, when used as an adjective, is unlikely to cause negative reactions. As a noun, however, when referring to African Americans, it does often offend—perhaps because references to “the blacks” or “a black” lead easily to misguided generalizations. But note the newer term. The 1990s saw black leaders like Jesse Jackson promote African American, which he said had “cultural integrity,” in that it refers to ethnic origins rather than to skin color. While African American has not replaced black in common parlance, it works both as a noun and as an adjective. This shifting from term to term has not been smooth or linear, and periods of change like the late 1960s were often marked by confusion as to which term was appropriate. The 1967 groundbreaking film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, about a young interracial couple hoping that both sets of parents will accept their plans to marry, reflects the abundance of terminological choices available at the time. Various characters talk of a “colored girl,” a “colored man,” a “Negro,” and “black people.” Even the n-word appears once, used disparagingly by one black character to another. African American had not yet made it into the mix. 1
- adjective blacking based on the grotesque, morbid, or unpleasant aspects of life: black comedy; black humor. 1
- adjective blacking (of a check mark, flag, etc.) done or written in black to indicate, as on a list, that which is undesirable, substandard, potentially dangerous, etc.: Pilots put a black flag next to the ten most dangerous airports. 1
- adjective blacking illegal or underground: The black economy pays no taxes. 1
- adjective blacking showing a profit; not showing any losses: the first black quarter in two years. 1
- adjective blacking deliberately false or intentionally misleading: black propaganda. 1
- adjective blacking British. boycotted, as certain goods or products by a trade union. 1
- adjective blacking (of steel) in the form in which it comes from the rolling mill or forge; unfinished. 1
- verb with object blacking to make black; put black on; blacken. 1
- verb with object blacking British. to boycott or ban. 1
- verb with object blacking to polish (shoes, boots, etc.) with blacking. 1
- verb without object blacking to become black; take on a black color; blacken. 1
- adverb blacking (of coffee or tea) served without milk or cream. 1
- idioms blacking black and white, print or writing: I want that agreement in black and white. a monochromatic picture done with black and white only. a chocolate soda containing vanilla ice cream. Slang. a highly recognizable police car, used to patrol a community. 1
- idioms blacking black or white, completely either one way or another, without any intermediate state. 1
- idioms blacking in the black, operating at a profit or being out of debt (opposed to in the red): New production methods put the company in the black. 1
- noun blacking the color at one extreme end of the scale of grays, opposite to white, absorbing all light incident upon it. Compare white (def 19). 1
- noun blacking (sometimes initial capital letter) a member of any of various dark-skinned peoples, especially those of Africa, Oceania, and Australia. Often Offensive. African American. 1
- noun blacking black clothing, especially as a sign of mourning: He wore black at the funeral. 1
- noun blacking Chess, Checkers. the dark-colored men or pieces or squares. 1
- noun blacking black pigment: lamp black. 1
- noun blacking Slang. black beauty. 1
- noun blacking a horse or other animal that is entirely black. 1
- adjective blacking lacking hue and brightness; absorbing light without reflecting any of the rays composing it. 1
- noun blacking a preparation, containing lampblack, used to produce a shiny black coating. 0
- noun blacking shoe polish. 0
- verb blacking present participle of black. 0