Pur·ple n.; pl. Purples
 1. A color formed by, or resembling that formed by, a combination of the primary colors red and blue.
 Arraying with reflected purple and gold
 The clouds that on his western throne attend.   -- Milton.
 Note: ☞ The ancient words which are translated purple are supposed to have been used for the color we call crimson. In the gradations of color as defined in art, purple is a mixture of red and blue. When red predominates it is called violet, and when blue predominates, hyacinth.
 2. Cloth dyed a purple color, or a garment of such color; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple rode or mantle worn by Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity; as, to put on the imperial purple.
    Thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and purple, and scarlet.   --Ex. xxvi. 1.
 3. Hence: Imperial sovereignty; royal rank, dignity, or favor; loosely and colloquially, any exalted station; great wealth. “He was born in the purple.”
 4. A cardinalate. See Cardinal.
 5. Zool. Any species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis) as, the banded purple (Basilarchia arthemis). See Illust. under Ursula.
 6. Zool. Any shell of the genus Purpura.
 7. pl.Med. See Purpura.
 8. pl. A disease of wheat. Same as Earcockle.
 Note: ☞ Purple is sometimes used in composition, esp. with participles forming words of obvious signification; as, purple-colored, purple-hued, purple-stained, purple-tinged, purple-tinted, and the like.
 French purple. Chem. Same as Cudbear.
 Purple of Cassius. See Cassius.
 Purple of mollusca Zool., a coloring matter derived from certain mollusks, which dyes wool, etc., of a purple or crimson color, and is supposed to be the substance of the famous Tyrian dye. It is obtained from Ianthina, and from several species of Purpura, and Murex.
 To be born in the purple, to be of princely birth; to be highborn.


 French prop. a.  Of or pertaining to France or its inhabitants.
  French bean Bot., the common kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).
 French berry Bot., the berry of a species of buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), which affords a saffron, green or purple pigment.
 French casement Arch. See French window, under Window.
 French chalk Min., a variety of granular talc; -- used for drawing lines on cloth, etc. See under Chalk.
 French cowslip Bot. The Primula Auricula. See Bear's-ear.
 French fake Naut., a mode of coiling a rope by running it backward and forward in parallel bends, so that it may run freely.
 French honeysuckle Bot. a plant of the genus Hedysarum (H. coronarium); -- called also garland honeysuckle.
 French horn, a metallic wind instrument, consisting of a long tube twisted into circular folds and gradually expanding from the mouthpiece to the end at which the sound issues; -- called in France cor de chasse.
 French leave, an informal, hasty, or secret departure; esp., the leaving a place without paying one's debts.
 French pie [French (here used in sense of “foreign”) + pie a magpie (in allusion to its black and white color)] Zool., the European great spotted woodpecker (Dryobstes major); -- called also wood pie.
 French polish. (a) A preparation for the surface of woodwork, consisting of gums dissolved in alcohol, either shellac alone, or shellac with other gums added. (b) The glossy surface produced by the application of the above.
 French purple, a dyestuff obtained from lichens and used for coloring woolen and silken fabrics, without the aid of mordants. --Ure.
 French red rouge.
 French rice, amelcorn.
 French roof Arch., a modified form of mansard roof having a nearly flat deck for the upper slope.
 French tub, a dyer's mixture of protochloride of tin and logwood; -- called also plum tub. --Ure.
 French window. See under Window.