verditer
(ˈvɜːdɪtə(r))
Forms: α. 6– verditer, 6 viriditer, 8 verdeter. β. 6 verdytor, 7 verditor. γ. 7–9 verditure, 7 virditur.
[a. OF. verd de terre (later F. vert de terre), lit. ‘green of earth’: see verd n. Holland Pliny (1601) II. 528 employs the OF. form.]
1. A kind of pigment of a green, bluish green, or (more freq.) light blue colour, usu. prepared by adding chalk or whiting to a solution of nitrate of copper, and much used in making crayons and as a water-colour.
| α 1505–6 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. III. 184, iij di. pund verditer; ilk pund vjs. 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 94 Rosset j lb. viii{supd}; verditer xiiij{supd}. 1662 in Statutes at Large, Ireland (1765) II. 417 Verditer, the hundred weight,..{pstlg}1 6s. 8d. 1674 W. Leybourn Compl. Surveyor 310 Verditer, washed and tempered with Gum-water, is a good Blew. 1738 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Dyeing, Bright green is first dyed blue, then back-boiled with braziletto, and verdeter. 1783 Priestley in Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 406 An ounce of copper from verditer absorbed 403 ounce measures. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 150 Bremen blue, or verditer, a greenish blue colour obtained from copper mixed with chalk or lime. Ibid. 1275 Verditer, or Bremen Green..is a light powder, like magnesia, having a blue or bluish green colour. 1873 Beeton's Dict. Comm., Sealing-Wax..is a composition of gum-lac, melted and incorporated with resin, and afterwards coloured with some pigment, as vermilion, verditer. |
| β 1532 in E. Law Hampton Crt. Pal. (1885) 363, 2 lb. of verdytor, at 16d. the lb. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c. 4 (1786) III. 157/2 Verditor, the hundred weight,..j li. vjs viij{supd}. |
| γ 1606 Peacham Art Drawing 54 Take your Verditure, and grind it with a weak Gum Arabick Water, it is the faintest and palest green that is. 1674 W. Leybourn Compl. Surveyor 310 Verditure washed and tempered with Gum water, makes a Green not transparent. |
b. With particularizing terms, as
blue verditer,
green verditer,
refined blue verditer,
refiners' verditer.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxiv. ¶17 Virdigreace, and Green Virditur, for Greens... But all must be ground with soft Varnish. 1732 J. Peele Water-Colours 62 Blue Verditer is a very bright, pleasant blue. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory (ed. 6) I. 184 Blue verditer or smalt, mixed with enamel, will make a good blue paint. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 504/2 It [blue carbonate of copper] is of a fine light blue colour, and known by the name of refiners' verditer. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade s.v., There are refined blue, and green verditers. 1867 Bloxam Chem. 345 The paint known as blue verditer is hydrated oxide of copper obtained by decomposing nitrate of copper with hydrate of lime. |
c. Hence
occas. in
pl.| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 72 For Smalts and verditures, I have been able with a microscope to perceive their particles very many of them transparent. 1835 G. Field Chromatography 113 These blues..as pigments are precisely of the character of verditers. |
2. The blue or green colour characteristic of verditer.
| 1819 H. Busk Vestriad v. 422 The sacred hill..Clad in bright verditure and Prussian blue. 1858 Sat. Rev. 20 Nov. 507/2 Flies..done in the brightest of verditer and ultramarine. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile vii. 185 The prevailing colours..are verditer and chocolate. |
3. attrib. a. With names of colours,
esp. verditer blue.
| 1551–2 in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 71 Grownde white leade, viijd. Verditer grene, ixd. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxiv. ¶17 Virditur Indico and Bice for Blews. Ibid., Virditur Indico..and Green Virditur. 1732 J. Peele Water-Colours 62 Verditer-Green is a light Green. 1857 Fraser's Mag. LVI. 571 Greenish blue approaching in richness to verditer blue. 1864–5 Wood Homes without H. xiii. (1868) 239 A large patch of feathers on the top of the head glows and flashes with metallic splendour, and is of a vivid verditer blue. 1891 G. E. Shelley Catal. Birds Brit. Mus. XIX. 95 Throat verditer-blue, with paler blue central lines. 1901 Q. Rev. July 18 The magnificent verditer-blue giant plantain-eater. |
b. In the sense ‘of the colour of verditer’.
| 1857 Fraser's Mag. LVI. 571 A grayish white chin is followed by a verditer throat. 1893 Symonds In Key of Blue 11 Verditer hues of water-snakes. |