bistre

American  

[bis-ter] / ˈbɪs tər /

Or bister

noun

1. a brown pigment extracted from the soot of wood, often used in pen and wash drawings.

2. a yellowish to dark-brown color.

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bistre British  

/ ˈbɪstə /

noun

1. a transparent water-soluble brownish-yellow pigment made by boiling the soot of wood, used for pen and wash drawings

2. 1. a yellowish-brown to dark brown colour

   2. ( as modifier )

      bistre paint

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Other Word Forms

• bistred
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of bistre

1720–30; < French, Middle French, of obscure origin

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bistre

Frontispiece-title by C. Apostool after Mortimer, and twenty-eight other plates, all in bistre.

From A Catalogue of Books in English Later than 1700 (Vol 2 of 3) Forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe by Various

Why, my boys rub blue and bistre till their faces run of a stream.

From Pencil Sketches or, Outlines of Character and Manners by Eliza Leslie

One hundred and fifty copies printed, with portrait of Madame du Barry in two states, in colours and bistre, and of Marie Antoinette in black and bistre.

From A Catalogue of Books in English Later than 1700 (Vol 3 of 3) Forming a portion of the library of Robert Hoe by Various

He looked around into her face—in spite of bistre and powder, and the faint rouging on her lips, it had a queer, unholy, touching beauty.

From Tatterdemalion by John Galsworthy

A very singular drawing in pen and ink and bistre.

From The Dance of Death Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein by Francis Douce

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