white lead
Americannoun
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a white, heavy powder, basic lead carbonate, 2PbCO 3 ⋅Pb(OH) 2 , used as a pigment, in putty, and in medicinal ointments for burns.
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the putty made from this substance in oil.
noun
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Also called: ceruse. a white solid usually regarded as a mixture of lead carbonate and lead hydroxide; basic lead carbonate: used in paint and in making putty and ointments for the treatment of burns. Formula: 2PbCO 3 .Pb(OH) 2
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either of two similar white pigments based on lead sulphate or lead silicate
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a type of putty made by mixing white lead with boiled linseed oil
Etymology
Origin of white lead
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50
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.
After years of airing holiday films with straight, primarily white lead characters, Hallmark aired its first “Countdown to Christmas” movie with gay leads in 2020.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 16, 2022
Male members of the court of Louis XIV in France painted on beauty marks, while Elizabethan Englishmen powdered their faces with ceruse, a toxic mixture of vinegar and white lead.
From New York Times • May 10, 2021
It was painted with white lead paint in 1818, and nicknamed "The White House" starting in the early 1800s.
From Fox News • Feb. 13, 2020
Archaeologists have found traces of white lead in the graves of upper-class women who lived as far back as ancient Greece, Lisa Eldridge reports in her history of makeup.
From Slate • Dec. 6, 2018
He understood that light would pass through the thin layers and bounce off the white lead.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
