lily-white
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English liliwhite, lilye-white, lilye-whyt, equivalent to lily + white.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Adjective
[edit]lily-white (comparative more lily-white, superlative most lily-white)
- A shade of the color white.
- Pure, unblemished, immaculate.
- Not a pimple nor freckle marred her lily-white skin
- (Can we date this quote?), “Green Grow the Rushes, O”:
- Four for the Gospel makers, / Three, three, the rivals, / Two, two, the lily-white boys, Clothed all in green, O
- Innocent, having a reputation beyond reproach.
- (slang, sometimes derogatory) Of the Caucasian race; white.
- 2023 March 7, Steve Rose, quoting China Miéville, “The romcom effect: will a new movie gentrify Peckham as Richard Curtis gentrified Notting Hill?”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
- The film was shot on location in Notting Hill, but observers noticed how its streets were suspiciously free of black people, and instead “wholly populated with mindless, twittering, wittering, lily-white rich”, as writer China Miéville put it.
Translations
[edit]a shade of the color white
|
pure, unblemished, immaculate
|