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COLOURS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A flag that shows its nationality
Synonyms:
colors; colours
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("colours" is a kind of...):
flag (emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design)
Domain usage:
plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "colours"):
ensign (colors flown by a ship to show its nationality)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A distinguishing emblem
Example:
his tie proclaimed his school colors
Synonyms:
colors; colours
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("colours" is a kind of...):
emblem (special design or visual object representing a quality, type, group, etc.)
Domain usage:
plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Present simple (third person singular) of the verb colour
Context examples:
The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, but had not yet begun to drop from the trees.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
“We got alongside and slapped it in through their port-holes until they struck their colours. But where have you been, Sir Cuthbert?”
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
If you look it up you will find that the San Pedro colours are green and white, same as in the note, Mr. Holmes.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The components used to make the perovskite can be changed to give the materials different colours and structural properties, for example, making the films emit different colours or collect sunlight more efficiently.
(‘Messy’ production of perovskite material increases solar cell efficiency, University of Cambridge)
These pictures were in water-colours.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Miss Bertram approved the decision, for the less he had to learn the better; and though she could not sympathise in his wish that the Count and Agatha might be to act together, nor wait very patiently while he was slowly turning over the leaves with the hope of still discovering such a scene, she very kindly took his part in hand, and curtailed every speech that admitted being shortened; besides pointing out the necessity of his being very much dressed, and chusing his colours.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Using the jumping genes already present in plants to generate new characteristics would be a significant step forward from traditional breeding techniques, making it possible to generate new traits in crops that have traditionally been bred to produce uniform shapes, colours and sizes to make harvesting more efficient and maximise yield.
(Harnessing tomato jumping genes could help speed-breed drought-resistant crops, University of Cambridge)
The trainer, John Straker, is a retired jockey who rode in Colonel Ross’s colours before he became too heavy for the weighing-chair.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As soon as Ben Gunn saw the colours he came to a halt, stopped me by the arm, and sat down.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
“Are you the knight who came every day to the festival, always in different colours, and who caught the three golden apples?” asked the king.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
