India ink

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a black pigment consisting of lampblack mixed with glue or size.

2. a liquid ink from this.

Word History and Origins

Origin of India ink¹

First recorded in 1655–65

Example Sentences

As Miss Charlotte Mortimer once told her favorite pupil, “No one’s fate is written in India ink.”

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Lotion tubes, squirt bottles, brushes, a honey bear, solo flip-flops, a Wiffle ball and a legless lawn flamingo now stained bone-white, all provide the canvas for Riley’s patterned mariner drawings in India ink.

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“The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions.”

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The Victorian-era collections are true works of art, with purple, red, brown and green algae arranged in eye-catching patterns on sturdy white card and signed in flowing India ink.

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Circle-shaped watercolor and India ink images capture her vignettes’ drama, spotlighting the players.

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