paint´a|ble

paint¹ «paynt», noun, verb.

–n.

1. a) a solid coloring matter mixed with a liquid, that can be spread on a surface to make a layer or film of white, black, or colored matter. b) the solid coloring matter alone; pigment: »

a box of paints.

2. the layer or film created by applying paint to a surface.

3. coloring matter put on the face or part of the body.

4. the act or fact of painting or coloring.

╂[< verb]

–v.t.

1. to cover or decorate with paint: »

to paint a house or a room.

2. to represent (an object, person, or scene) in colors, usually on a prepared surface: »

The artist painted fairies and angels. Paint me a cavernous waste shore (T. S. Eliot).

3. Figurative. to show as if by painting: »

A lively surprise…was painted on his countenance (Mary W. Shelley).

4. Figurative. to picture vividly in words: »

I shall…paint to you…something like the true form of the whale as he actually appears to the eye of the whaleman (Herman Melville).

5. a) to put on like paint: »

The doctor painted iodine on the cut.

b) to treat (a wound or any part) in this way.

6. to put color on (the face or other part) in order to beautify it artificially: »

to paint one's fingernails.

–v.i.

1. to use paint in covering, decorating, or coloring.

2. to practice the art of painting; make pictures.

3. Obsolete. to apply, as rouge: »

Nor could it sure be such a sin to paint (Alexander Pope).

╂[< Old French peint, past participle of peindre to paint < Latin pingere]

–paint´a|ble, adjective.

paint² «paynt», noun.

U.S. Dialect. a piebald or particolored horse: »

I ride an old paint… (American cowboy song).

╂[< Spanish pinto]