Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Color in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels color as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Color

[OF. color, colur, colour, F. couleur, L. color; prob. akin to celare to conceal (the color taken as that which covers). See Helmet.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordcolor
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[OF. color, colur, colour, F. couleur, L. color; prob. akin to celare to conceal (the color taken as that which covers). See Helmet.]
Selected historical definitionA property depending on the relations of light to the eye, by which individual and specific differences in the hues and tints of objects are apprehended in vision; as, gay colors; sad colors, etc.
Signed record IDwebster1913-color-noun-e694ef7473c7
Source locatorCIDE.C, paragraph 11432; Gutenberg eBook 661
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 661Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "color" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OF. color, colur, colour, F. couleur, L. color; prob. akin to celare to conceal (the color taken as that which covers). See Helmet.]" The selected historical definition says: "A property depending on the relations of light to the eye, by which individual and specific differences in the hues and tints of objects are apprehended in vision; as, gay colors; sad colors, etc."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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[F. change, fr. changer. See Change. v. t.]

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Came

[Cf. Scot. came, caim, comb, and OE. camet silver.]

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Course

[F. cours, course, L. cursus, fr. currere to run. See Current.]

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