white lead
1
9.9
- noun
- /waɪt lɛd/
- Archaic
:
blanco de plomo
- Clay said, "Heade wouldn't have had time to lay down a coat of white lead to obscure the earlier painting."
- white lead paint
- coat of white lead
- ground of white lead
At the time, the gossip was certainly that she'd been killed by white lead so by her cosmetics.
- At the time, the gossip was certainly that she'd been killed by white lead so by her cosmetics.
Examples
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"We have that English stock of white lead," Claude shook his head.
Fiction book (1992) -
The most popular white makeup was known as ceruse and was made with white lead pigment.
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So moving in supersonic speed, I am removing this white lead and you can see that it does come off.
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The ancient cosmetologists may have mixed an animal fat with lead salt to make lead soap, and then added phosgenite, a synthetic white lead salt.
Academic text (2009) -
The overwrap was painted with white lead to make the assembly watertight, corrosion being the principal enemy of any iron or steel structure.
Academic text (2012) -
Which makes me believe that this maybe isn't white lead, that this is maybe an acrylic ground layer or paint layer that was on the canvas.
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Now she strokes red, yellow, and brown pigments into a thick smear of white lead paint on her palette until it turns a pale flesh color.
Fiction book (2001) -
Upton knew the color of white lead because he had collected, for his lectures and his own amusement, vials containing all the arcane preoccupations of science in the aftermath of alchemy.
Fiction book (2000) -
When restoring the vintage painting, the conservator used white lead to match the original colors.
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The artist preferred to use white lead as an undercoat for its opacity and smooth finish.
Synonyms
A white poisonous powder that contains lead and was used to make paint
A white lead pigment once used in cosmetics and painting that is poisonous
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward adjective+noun composition: 'white' describes the color/appearance and 'lead' names the metal, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a white form/substance of lead (i.e., a lead-based white pigment). While details about its chemical composition, toxicity, or historical use are specialized, the basic meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
The name white lead comes from old paint-making: people turned metal lead into a bright white powder to make paint. Artists used it for strong white colour, but because it was still lead it was very poisonous, so today the name means 'a white pigment made from lead' and is known as a health risk.