purple

Meanings

Noun

• A colour/color that is a dark blend of red and blue; dark magenta.
• Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a colour wheel between violet and red.
• Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple robe or mantle worn by Ancient Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity.
• Imperial power, .
• Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk.
• The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana.
• Purpura.
• Earcockle, a disease of wheat.
• Any of the species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (genus) (formerly Limenitis (genus)).
• A cardinalate.

Adjective

• Having a colour/color that is a dark blend of red and blue.
• Not predominantly red or blue, but having a mixture of Democrat and Republican support, as in purple state, purple city.
• Mixed between social democrats and liberals.
• Imperial; regal.
• Blood-red; bloody.
• Extravagantly ornate, like purple prose.
• Completed in the fastest time so far in a given session.

Verb

• To turn purple in colour.
• To dye purple.
• To clothe in purple.

Related

Opposite words

• nonpurple

Origin

• From Middle English purple, purpel, purpur, from Old English purple, purpuren, taken from Latin purpura ("purple dye, shellfish"), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα ("purple fish"), perhaps of Semitic origin. Cognate with Dutch purper, German Purpur, Gothic 𐍀𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍀𐌿𐍂𐌰, Lithuanian purpurinė.