white lead en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
In the tin sense, a calque of Latin plumbum album (literally “white lead”), a term already in use before our era, for tin and lead were not yet properly distinguished prior to modern times. Compare Latin plumbum candidum (literally “shining-white lead”) and Arabic رَصَاص أَبْيَض (raṣāṣ ʔabyaḍ, “white lead”), both of which were also used to mean “tin” and to distinguish it from lead proper, called “black lead” (plumbum nigrum; رَصَاص أَسْوَد (raṣāṣ ʔaswad)) in those ancient tongues.
Meanings
-
(obsolete, uncountable) Tin, golden marcasite.
It is not amiſs here to give the differences betwixt white Lead, or Tin, Biſmuth, Tin-glaſs, or aſh-coloured Lead, and this common Lead, which they call black Lead;
1671, John Webster, Metallographia: Or, an history of metals., London, page 271:
-
(uncountable) A basic lead carbonate, particularly (historical) as once widely used for white paint, whitening cosmetics, and early medicine.
The beginning of a new episode of work for Bradly was an agitated niggling over six-by-four squares of cardboard coated with size and white lead, prepared by himself to save an experimental waste of canvas.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 40:Such eminent and renowned scientists as Fourcroy, Berthollet and Vauquelin all enthusiastically supported zinc white, the defects of which "are so slight compared to the disadvantages of using white lead, that its adoption cannot be reasonably refused."
2021, Judith Rainhorn, The Colour of Controversy..., p. 4
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| whitelead | alternative | lexicographic |
Coordinates
red lead · titanium dioxide · cerussite · zinc oxide
Deriveds
Hyponyms
Kremnitz white · China white · Berlin white · Vienna white · Nottingham white · Krems white · French white
Synonyms
Venetian white · ceruse · Venetian ceruse · white poison · silver white · slate white · flake white · lead white
Translations (33)
ca blanquet (lead carbonate) · la cērussa (lead carbonate) · nl loodwit (lead carbonate) · ga luaidhe bhán (lead carbonate) · ar سِبِيدَاج (lead carbonate) · fr céruse (lead carbonate) · sv blyvitt (lead carbonate) · ar بَيَاض (lead carbonate) · it biacca (lead carbonate) · cs plavajz (lead carbonate) · gu સફેદો (lead carbonate) · bn সফেদী (lead carbonate) · hu ólomfehér (lead carbonate) · fi lyijyvalkoinen (lead carbonate) · fa سپیداب (lead carbonate) · fr blanc de plomb (lead carbonate) · es albayalde (lead carbonate) · ar بَارُوق (lead carbonate) · cy plwm gwyn (lead carbonate) · grc ψίμυθος (lead carbonate) · ko 연백 (lead carbonate) · pl blejwas (lead carbonate) · de Bleiweiß (lead carbonate) · bg оловно белило (lead carbonate) · ru свинцо́вые бели́ла (lead carbonate) · cs olovnatá běloba (lead carbonate) · ro ceruză (lead carbonate) · ro alb de plumb (lead carbonate) · pt alvaiade (lead carbonate) · ca blanc de plom (lead carbonate) · la abarath (lead carbonate) · it bianchetto (lead carbonate) · fr blanc de Saturne (lead carbonate)