- yellow
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I. adjective
Etymology: Middle English yelwe, yelow, from Old English geolu; akin to Old High German gelo yellow, Latin helvus light bay, Greek chlōros greenish yellow, Sanskrit hari yellowish
Date: before 12th century
1.
a. of the color yellow
b. become yellowish through age, disease, or discoloration ; sallow
c. sometimes offensive having a yellowish or light brown complexion or skin
2.
a. featuring sensational or scandalous items or ordinary news sensationally distorted <yellow journalism> b. mean, cowardly • yellowish adjective II. noun Date: before 12th century 1. something yellow or marked by a yellow color: as a. sometimes offensive a person having yellowish or light brown skin b. the yolk of an egg 2. a. a color whose hue resembles that of ripe lemons or sunflowers or is that of the portion of the spectrum lying between green and orange b. a pigment or dye that colors yellow 3. plural jaundice 4. plural but singular in construction any of several plant diseases caused especially by phytoplasmas and marked by yellowing of the foliage and stunting III. verb Date: 15th century intransitive verb to become or turn yellow transitive verb to make yellow ; give a yellow tinge or color to <yellowed by time>
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.