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ecies of the genus Ribes (a genus also including the gooseberry); esp., the Ribes rubrum. Black currant,a shrub or bush (Ribes nigrum and R. floridum) and its black, strong-flavored, tonic fruit. -- Cherry currant, a variety of the red currant, having a strong, symmetrical bush and a very large berry. -- Currant bore…

A sea bird of the Atlantic (Rhynchops nigra); -- called also black skimmer, scissorsbill, and razorbill. See Skimmer.

thin, transparent stuff, the same as, or corresponding to, crape. It was either white or black, the latter being most common, and used for mourning. [Obs.] Lawn as white as driven snow, Cyprus black as e'er was crow. Shak.

ing to Dalmatia. Dalmatian dog (Zoöl.), a carriage dog, shaped like a pointer, and having black or bluish spots on a white ground; the coach dog.

Doing injury; trespassing, as cattle. Blackstone.

Moisture; humidity; fog; fogginess; vapor. Night . . . with black air Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom. Milton.

Nor did Sabrina's presence seem to act as any damper at the modest little festivities. W. Black.

y destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored; as, a dark room; a dark day; dark cloth; dark paint; a dark complexion. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverable dark, total eclipse Without all hope of da…

To make dark or black; to deprite of light; to obscure; as, a darkened room. They [locusts] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened. Ex. x. 15. So spake the Sovran Voice; and clouds began To darken all the hill. Milton.

The absence of light; blackness; obscurity; gloom. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. Gen. i. 2.

The European black tern.

as a spiritual power. M. Arnold. She was resolved to be a good deal more circumspect. W. Black.

archdeaconry is divided into rural deaneries, and each deanery is divided into parishes. Blackstone.

One to whom a debt is due; creditor; -- correlative to debtor. Blackstone.

To reduce from civilization to a savage state. [R.] Blackwood's Mag.

ntaining or involving a declination or refusal, as of submission to a charge or sentence. Blackstone. Declinatory plea (O. Eng. Law), the plea of sanctuary or of benefit of clergy, before trial or conviction; -- now abolished.

The pilot whale or blackfish.

ourning (Costume), mourning complete and strongly marked, the garments being not only all black, but also composed of lusterless materials and of such fashion as is identified with mourning garments.

To render infamous; to bring into disrepute. My guilt thy growing virtues did defame; My blackness blotted thy unblemish'd name. Dryden.

certain salts, acids, and alkalies. In very moist air crystals of strontites deliquesce. Black.