Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

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}.