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black

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Black
I
Black, Cilla /ˈsɪlə/
(1943–) a British entertainer from Liverpool. She was a successful POP SINGER in the 1960s, and was the presenter of a popular television show called Blind Date from 1985 until 2003.

II
Black, Conrad
(1940–) a businessman originally from Canada. He was the head of a company which owns more than 500 newspapers in various countries, including the Daily Telegraph in Britain and the Chicago Sun-Times in the US. Lord Black resigned as head of his company in 2003 after it was claimed that he and others had received more than $32 million in secret payments. In 2007 a US court of law found him guilty of fraud and he was given a PRISON SENTENCE of 6.5 years. His official title is Lord Black of Crossharbour.

III
Black, Jack
(1969–) a US comedy actor and musician whose films include High Fidelity and School of Rock. Black is known for singing or playing guitar in several of his films.

IV
Black, Roger
(1966–) a British athlete who won many races, and who was second in the men's 400 metres running race in the 1996 Olympic Games. He now works as a television sports commentator (=someone who describes events as they are happening).


black
I
black1 S1 W1 /blæk/ adjective (comparative blacker, superlative blackest)
 Language: Old English
 Origin: blæc
1.  COLOUR having the darkest colour, like coal or night:
    a black evening dress
    jet/inky black (=very dark)
    jet black hair
2.  NO LIGHT very dark because there is no light:
    It was still pitch black (=very dark) out.
3.  PEOPLE (also Black)
  a. belonging to the race of people who originally came from Africa and who have dark brown skin ⇨ white:
    Over half the students are black.
  b. [only before noun] relating to black people:
    politics from a black perspective
    Black and Asian music
4.  DRINK  [only before noun] black coffee or tea does not have milk in it
   OPP  white:
    Black coffee, no sugar, please.
5.  DIRTY informal very dirty
    be black with soot/dirt/age etc
6.  WITHOUT HOPE sad and without hope for the future:
    the blackest period of European history
    a mood of black despair
    It’s been another black day for the car industry, with more job losses announced.
7.  HUMOUR making jokes about serious subjects, especially death:
    a very black joke
8.  ANGRY  [only before noun] full of feelings of anger or hate ⇨ blackly:
    Denise gave me a black look.
9. a black mark (against somebody) if there is a black mark against you, someone has a bad opinion of you because of something you have done
10. not be as black as you are painted not to be as bad as people say you are
11.  BAD literary very bad:
    black deeds
—blackness noun

II
black2 noun
1. [uncountable] the dark colour of coal or night:
    You look good wearing black.coal-black
2. (also Black) [countable] someone who belongs to the race of people who originally came from Africa and who have dark brown skin ⇨ white:
    laws that discriminated against blacks
3. be in the black to have money in your bank account
   OPP  be in the red

III
black3 verb [transitive]
1. British English if a trade union blacks goods or a company, it refuses to work with them:
    The union has blacked all non-urgent work.
2. old-fashioned to make something black
     
black out phrasal verb
  1. to become unconscious
   SYN  faint, pass out:
    For a few seconds, he thought he was going to black out.
  2. black something ↔ out to put a dark mark over something so that it cannot be seen:
    The censors had blacked out several words.
  3. black something ↔ out to hide or turn off all the lights in a town or city, especially during war
blackout