black-a-vised
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of black-a-vised
1750–60; Scots blackaviced, equivalent to black a vice (one) black of face ( black + a 3 + obsolete vice < Middle French vis; see visage) + -ed 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tall, lean, black-a-vised, muscular, Robert Graves looks younger than his 38 years.
From Time Magazine Archive
There came to it a tall, black-a-vised woman, who, the moment she saw the girl, cried out— 'Oh, Mary Ann, are you took bad again?'
From The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols by Black, William
"At your service, Major," cried the Captain, a dashing, black-a-vised personage, with large gold rings in his ears, a plume a yard long in his castor, and a general Drawcansir air.
From Prisoners of Hope A Tale of Colonial Virginia by Johnston, Mary
There was a carrier's cart ready to start, and a keen thin, impatient, black-a-vised little man, his hand at his gray horse's head, looking about angrily for something.
From Famous Stories Every Child Should Know by Mabie, Hamilton Wright
There was a carrier’s cart ready to start, and a keen, thin, impatient, black-a-vised little man, his hand at his gray horse’s head, looking about angrily for something.
From Spare Hours by Brown, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
