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
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 Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 by Sylvester, Charles Herbert
A night or two later, to his amazement, Macro came out of his own cabin more black-a-vised than he had ever seen him, and asked abruptly, "Where's that cross?"
From Maid of the Mist by Oxenham, John
"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
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.
