White \White\, a. [Compar. Whiter; superl. Whitest.]

[OE. whit, AS. hw?t; akin to OFries. and OS. hw[=i]t, D. wit, G. weiss, OHG. w[=i]z, hw[=i]z, Icel. hv[=i]tr, Sw. hvit, Dan. hvid, Goth. hweits, Lith. szveisti, to make bright, Russ. sviet' light, Skr. ?v?ta white, ?vit to be bright. ???. Cf. Wheat, Whitsunday.]

1. Reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; having the color of pure snow; snowy; -- the opposite of black or dark; as, white paper; a white skin. ``Pearls white.'' --Chaucer.

White as the whitest lily on a stream. --Longfellow.

2. Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear.

Or whispering with white lips, ``The foe! They come! they come!'' --Byron.

3. Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure.

White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear. --Dryden.

No whiter page than Addison's remains. --Pope.

4. Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary.

Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head So old and white as this. --Shak.

5. Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable.

On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life. --Sir W. Scott.

6. Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling.

Come forth, my white spouse. --Chaucer.

I am his white boy, and will not be gullet. --Ford.

Note: White is used in many self-explaining compounds, as white-backed, white-bearded, white-footed.

White alder. (Bot.) See Sweet pepper bush, under Pepper.

White ant (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of social pseudoneuropterous insects of the genus Termes. These insects are very abundant in tropical countries, and form large and complex communities consisting of numerous asexual workers of one or more kinds, of large-headed asexual individuals called soldiers, of one or more queens (or fertile females) often having the body enormously distended by the eggs, and, at certain seasons of numerous winged males, together with the larv[ae] and pup[ae] of each kind in various stages of development. Many of the species construct large and complicated nests, sometimes in the form of domelike structures rising several feet above the ground and connected with extensive subterranean galleries and chambers. In their social habits they closely resemble the true ants. They feed upon animal and vegetable substances of various kinds, including timber, and are often very destructive to buildings and furniture.

White arsenic (Chem.), arsenious oxide, As2O3, a substance of a white color, and vitreous adamantine luster, having an astringent, sweetish taste. It is a deadly poison.

White bass (Zo["o]l.), a fresh-water North American bass (Roccus chrysops) found in the Great Likes.

White bear (Zo["o]l.), the polar bear. See under Polar.

White blood cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte.

White brand (Zo["o]l.), the snow goose.

White brass, a white alloy of copper; white copper.

White campion. (Bot.)
   (a) A kind of catchfly (Silene stellata) with white flowers.
   (b) A white-flowered Lychnis (Lychnis vespertina).

White canon (R. C. Ch.), a Premonstratensian.

White caps, the members of a secret organization in various of the United States, who attempt to drive away or reform obnoxious persons by lynch-law methods. They appear masked in white.

White cedar (Bot.), an evergreen tree of North America (Thuja occidentalis), also the related Cupressus thyoides, or Cham[ae]cyparis sph[ae]roidea, a slender evergreen conifer which grows in the so-called cedar swamps of the Northern and Atlantic States. Both are much valued for their durable timber. In California the name is given to the Libocedrus decurrens, the timber of which is also useful, though often subject to dry rot. --Goodale. The white cedar of Demerara, Guiana, etc., is a lofty tree (Icica, or Bursera, altissima) whose fragrant wood is used for canoes and cabinetwork, as it is not attacked by insect.

White cell. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte.

White cell-blood (Med.), leucocyth[ae]mia.

White clover (Bot.), a species of small perennial clover bearing white flowers. It furnishes excellent food for cattle and horses, as well as for the honeybee. See also under Clover.

White copper, a whitish alloy of copper. See German silver, under German.

White copperas (Min.), a native hydrous sulphate of iron; coquimbite.

White coral (Zo["o]l.), an ornamental branched coral (Amphihelia oculata) native of the Mediterranean.

White corpuscle. (Physiol.) See Leucocyte.

White cricket (Zo["o]l.), the tree cricket.

White crop, a crop of grain which loses its green color, or becomes white, in ripening, as wheat, rye, barley, and oats, as distinguished from a green crop, or a root crop.

White currant (Bot.), a variety of the common red currant, having white berries.

White daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. See under Daisy.

White damp, a kind of poisonous gas encountered in coal mines. --Raymond.

White elephant (Zo["o]l.), a whitish, or albino, variety of the Asiatic elephant.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Polar \Po"lar\, a. [Cf. F. polaire. See Pole of the earth.]

1. Of or pertaining to one of the poles of the earth, or of a sphere; situated near, or proceeding from, one of the poles; as, polar regions; polar seas; polar winds.

2. Of or pertaining to the magnetic pole, or to the point to which the magnetic needle is directed.

3. (Geom.) Pertaining to, reckoned from, or having a common radiating point; as, polar co["o]rdinates.

Polar axis, that axis of an astronomical instrument, as an equatorial, which is parallel to the earths axis.

Polar bear (Zo["o]l.), a large bear (Ursus, or Thalarctos, maritimus) inhabiting the arctic regions. It sometimes measures nearly nine feet in length and weighs 1,600 pounds. It is partially amphibious, very powerful, and the most carnivorous of all the bears. The fur is white, tinged with yellow. Called also White bear. See Bear.

Polar body, cell, or globule (Biol.), a minute cell which separates by karyokinesis from the ovum during its maturation. In the maturation of ordinary ova two polar bodies are formed, but in parthogenetic ova only one. The first polar body formed is usually larger than the second one, and often divides into two after its separation from the ovum. Each of the polar bodies removes maternal chromatin from the ovum to make room for the chromatin of the fertilizing spermatozo["o]n; but their functions are not fully understood.

Polar circles (Astron. & Geog.), two circles, each at a distance from a pole of the earth equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or about 23[deg] 28', the northern called the arctic circle, and the southern the antarctic circle.

Polar clock, a tube, containing a polarizing apparatus, turning on an axis parallel to that of the earth, and indicating the hour of the day on an hour circle, by being turned toward the plane of maximum polarization of the light of the sky, which is always 90[deg] from the sun.

Polar co["o]rdinates. See under 3d Co["o]rdinate.

Polar dial, a dial whose plane is parallel to a great circle passing through the poles of the earth. --Math. Dict.

Polar distance, the angular distance of any point on a sphere from one of its poles, particularly of a heavenly body from the north pole of the heavens.

Polar equation of a line or surface, an equation which expresses the relation between the polar co["o]rdinates of every point of the line or surface.

Polar forces (Physics), forces that are developed and act in pairs, with opposite tendencies or properties in the two elements, as magnetism, electricity, etc.

Polar hare (Zo["o]l.), a large hare of Arctic America (Lepus arcticus), which turns pure white in winter. It is probably a variety of the common European hare (L. timidus).

Polar lights, the aurora borealis or australis.

Polar, or Polaric, opposition or contrast (Logic), an opposition or contrast made by the existence of two opposite conceptions which are the extremes in a species, as white and black in colors; hence, as great an opposition or contrast as possible.

Polar projection. See under Projection.

Polar spherical triangle (Spherics), a spherical triangle whose three angular points are poles of the sides of a given triangle. See 4th Pole, 2.

Polar whale (Zo["o]l.), the right whale, or bowhead. See Whale.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)