Being of a bright saffronlike color; of the color
of gold or brass; having the hue of that part of the rainbow, or of
the solar spectrum, which is between the orange and the green.
[1913 Webster] Her yellow hair was browded [braided] in a tress.
--Chaucer. [1913 Webster] A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
First fruits, the green ear and the yellow sheaf. --Milton. [1913
Webster] The line of yellow light dies fast away. --Keble. [1913
Webster]
Cowardly; hence, dishonorable; mean;
contemptible; as, he has a yellow streak. [Slang] [Webster 1913
Suppl.]
Sensational; -- said of some newspapers, their
makers, etc.; as, yellow journal, journalism, etc. [Colloq.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.] Yellow
atrophy (Med.), a fatal affection of the liver, in which it
undergoes fatty degeneration, and becomes rapidly smaller and of a
deep yellow tinge. The marked symptoms are black vomit, delirium,
convulsions, coma, and jaundice. Yellow bark,
calisaya bark. Yellow bass
(Zool.), a North American fresh-water bass (Morone
interrupta) native of the lower parts of the Mississippi and
its tributaries. It is yellow, with several more or less broken
black stripes or bars. Called also barfish. Yellow
berry. (Bot.) Same as Persian
berry, under Persian. Yellow boy, a
gold coin, as a guinea. [Slang] --Arbuthnot. Yellow
brier. (Bot.) See under Brier. Yellow bugle
(Bot.), a European labiate plant (Ajuga
Chamaepitys). Yellow
bunting (Zool.), the European yellow-hammer. Yellow cat
(Zool.), a yellow catfish; especially, the bashaw. Yellow
copperas (Min.), a hydrous sulphate of iron; -- called also
copiapite. Yellow
copper ore, a sulphide of copper and iron; copper pyrites. See
Chalcopyrite.
Yellow
cress (Bot.), a yellow-flowered, cruciferous plant (Barbarea
praecox), sometimes grown as a salad plant. Yellow dock.
(Bot.) See the Note under Dock. Yellow
earth, a yellowish clay, colored by iron, sometimes used as a
yellow pigment. Yellow fever
(Med.), a malignant, contagious, febrile disease of warm climates,
attended with jaundice, producing a yellow color of the skin, and
with the black vomit. See Black vomit,
in the Vocabulary. Yellow flag,
the quarantine flag. See under Quarantine, and 3d Flag. Yellow jack.
(a) The yellow fever. See under 2d Jack. (b) The quarantine flag. See
under Quarantine.
Yellow
jacket (Zool.), any one of several species of American social
wasps of the genus Vespa,
in which the color of the body is partly bright yellow. These wasps
are noted for their irritability, and for their painful stings.
Yellow lead
ore (Min.), wulfenite. Yellow lemur
(Zool.), the kinkajou. Yellow
macauco (Zool.), the kinkajou. Yellow
mackerel (Zool.), the jurel. Yellow
metal. Same as Muntz metal,
under Metal. Yellow ocher
(Min.), an impure, earthy variety of brown iron ore, which is used
as a pigment. Yellow oxeye
(Bot.), a yellow-flowered plant (Chrysanthemum
segetum) closely related to the oxeye daisy. Yellow perch
(Zool.), the common American perch. See Perch. Yellow pike
(Zool.), the wall-eye. Yellow pine
(Bot.), any of several kinds of pine; also, their yellowish and
generally durable timber. Among the most common are valuable
species are Pinus mitis
and Pinus
palustris of the Eastern and Southern States, and Pinus
ponderosa and Pinus
Arizonica of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific States. Yellow
plover (Zool.), the golden plover. Yellow
precipitate (Med. Chem.), an oxide of mercury which is thrown
down as an amorphous yellow powder on adding corrosive sublimate to
limewater. Yellow
puccoon. (Bot.) Same as Orangeroot. Yellow rail
(Zool.), a small American rail (Porzana
Noveboracensis) in which the lower parts are dull yellow,
darkest on the breast. The back is streaked with brownish yellow
and with black, and spotted with white. Called also yellow
crake. Yellow
rattle, Yellow
rocket. (Bot.) See under Rattle, and Rocket. Yellow Sally
(Zool.), a greenish or yellowish European stone fly of the genus
Chloroperla; -- so
called by anglers. Yellow
sculpin (Zool.), the dragonet. Yellow snake
(Zool.), a West Indian boa (Chilobothrus
inornatus) common in Jamaica. It becomes from eight to ten
long. The body is yellowish or yellowish green, mixed with black,
and anteriorly with black lines. Yellow spot.
(a) (Anat.) A small yellowish spot with a central pit, the fovea
centralis, in the center of the retina where vision is most
accurate. See Eye. (b)
(Zool.) A small American butterfly (Polites
Peckius) of the Skipper family. Its wings are brownish, with a
large, irregular, bright yellow spot on each of the hind wings,
most conspicuous beneath. Called also Peck's
skipper. See Illust. under Skipper, n.,
Yellow tit
(Zool.), any one of several species of crested titmice of the genus
Machlolophus,
native of India. The predominating colors of the plumage are yellow
and green. Yellow viper
(Zool.), the fer-de-lance. Yellow
warbler (Zool.), any one of several species of American
warblers of the genus Dendroica in which the
predominant color is yellow, especially Dendroica
aestiva, which is a very abundant and familiar species; --
called also garden
warbler, golden
warbler, summer
yellowbird, summer
warbler, and yellow-poll
warbler. Yellow wash
(Pharm.), yellow oxide of mercury suspended in water, -- a mixture
prepared by adding corrosive sublimate to limewater. Yellow wren
(Zool.) (a) The European willow warbler. (b) The European wood
warbler. [1913 Webster]
English
Adjective
yellowest- superlative of yellow