purple definition - Dictionary

Dictionary

pur·ple [ púrp'l ]

noun (plural pur·ples)

Definition:

1. color combining red and blue: a dark color that is formed as a pigment by combining red and blue

2. purple object: an object, substance, or fabric that is purple in color

3. dress robe in color purple: a cloth or robe in the color purple that was formerly worn as a symbol of imperial, royal, or other high rank

4. imperial rank: imperial power or high rank

5. christianity rank of cardinal or bishop: the rank or office of a cardinal or a bishop

6. christianity bishops: bishops regarded as a group

adjective

Definition:

1. of dark red-blue: of a dark red-blue color

2. literature elaborate or exaggerated: elaborate in style and containing too many literary effects

purple prose

transitive and intransitive verb (past and past participle pur·pled, present participle pur·pling, 3rd person present singular pur·ples)

Definition:

turn something purple: to become purple, or make something become purple

His eyes narrowed and his cheeks purpled.

[Pre-12th century. Alteration of Latin purpura< Greek porphura "shellfish yielding purple dye"]

pur·ple·ness noun

pur·plish adjective

pur·ply adjective

Cultural Note


	The Color Purple, a novel (1982) by Alice Walker. In it, Celie, an uneducated young African American woman growing up in the South after the Civil War, confides the story of her life in a series of letters to her sister, a missionary in Africa, and to God. She tells of abuse and suffering, and her gradual empowerment through friendship and love. The novel is celebrated for the emotional power of its black vernacular language. In 1985 Steven Spielberg made it into a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg.