ink, n. [OE. enke, inke, OF. enque, F. encre, L. encaustum the purple red ink with which the Roman emperors signed their edicts, Gr. , fr. burnt in, encaustic, fr. to burn in. See Encaustic, Caustic.].

A fluid, or a viscous material or preparation of various kinds (commonly black or colored), used in writing or printing. [1913 Webster]
"Make there a prick with ink." [1913 Webster]

"Deformed monsters, foul and black as ink." [1913 Webster]
A pigment. See India ink, under India. [1913 Webster]
" Ordinarily, black ink is made from nutgalls and a solution of some salt of iron, and consists essentially of a tannate or gallate of iron; sometimes indigo sulphate, or other coloring matter, is added. Other black inks contain potassium chromate, and extract of logwood, salts of vanadium, etc. Blue ink is usually a solution of Prussian blue. Red ink was formerly made from carmine (cochineal), Brazil wood, etc., but potassium eosin is now used. Also red, blue, violet, and yellow inks are largely made from aniline dyes. Indelible ink is usually a weak solution of silver nitrate, but carbon in the form of lampblack or India ink, salts of molybdenum, vanadium, etc., are also used. Sympathetic inks may be made of milk, salts of cobalt, etc. See Sympathetic ink (below)." [1913 Webster]

Copying ink, a peculiar ink used for writings of which copies by impression are to be taken. -- Ink bag (Zoöl.), an ink sac. -- Ink berry. (Bot.) (a) A shrub of the Holly family (Ilex glabra), found in sandy grounds along the coast from New England to Florida, and producing a small black berry. (b) The West Indian indigo berry. See Indigo. -- Ink plant (Bot.), a New Zealand shrub (Coriaria thymifolia), the berries of which yield a juice which forms an ink. -- Ink powder, a powder from which ink is made by solution. -- Ink sac (Zoöl.), an organ, found in most cephalopods, containing an inky fluid which can be ejected from a duct opening at the base of the siphon. The fluid serves to cloud the water, and enable these animals to escape from their enemies. See Illust. of Dibranchiata. -- Printer's ink, or Printing ink. See under Printing. -- Sympathetic ink, a writing fluid of such a nature that what is written remains invisible till the action of a reagent on the characters makes it visible.

ink, v. t.

To put ink upon; to supply with ink; to blacken, color, or daub with ink. [1913 Webster]

top

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ink, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a coloured fluid used for writing with a pen, marking with a rubber stamp, etc. b a thick paste used in printing, duplicating, in ball-point pens, etc.
2 Zool. a black liquid ejected by a cuttlefish, octopus, etc. to confuse a predator.
--v.tr.
1 (usu. foll. by in, over, etc.) mark with ink.
2 cover (type etc.) with ink before printing.
3 apply ink to.
4 (as inked adj.) Austral. sl. drunk.

Idiom

ink-blot test = RORSCHACH TEST. ink-cap any fungus of the genus Coprinus. ink-horn hist. a small portable horn container for ink. ink out obliterate with ink. ink-pad an ink-soaked pad, usu. in a box, used for inking a rubber stamp etc. ink-well a pot for ink usu. housed in a hole in a desk.

Derivative

inker n.

Etymology

ME enke, inke f. OF enque f. LL encau(s)tum f. Gk egkauston purple ink used by Roman emperors for signature (as EN-(2), CAUSTIC)

top

DEVIL DICTIONARY

ink

n. A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic and water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote intellectual crime. The properties of ink are peculiar and contradictory: it may be used to make reputations and unmake them; to blacken them and to make them white; but it is most generally and acceptably employed as a mortar to bind together the stones of an edifice of fame, and as a whitewash to conceal afterward the rascal quality of the material. There are men called journalists who have established ink baths which some persons pay money to get into, others to get out of. Not infrequently it occurs that a person who has paid to get in pays twice as much to get out.

top

THESAURUS

ink

autograph, ballpoint pen, bedarken, besmirch, black, blackboard, blacken, blackwash, blot, blotch, chalk, charcoal, coal, cork, crayon, crow, darken, denigrate, dinge, ebon, ebonize, ebony, eraser, inkhorn, inkstand, inkwell, invisible ink, jet, lead pencil, melanize, murk, nib, night, nigrify, oversmoke, pen, pitch, plume, quill, raven, reed, shade, shadow, signature, slate, sloe, smirch, smoke, smudge, smut, smutch, soot, stencil, style, stylograph, stylus, subscribe, sympathetic ink, table, tablet, tar

top

ROGET THESAURUS

ink

Blackness

N blackness darkness, (want of light), swartliness, lividity, dark color, tone, color, chiaroscuro, nigrification, infuscation, jet, ink, ebony, coal pitch, soot, charcoal, sloe, smut, raven, crow, negro, blackamoor, man of color, nigger, darkie, Ethiop, black, buck, nigger, coon, sambo, lampblack, ivory black, blueblack, writing ink, printing ink, printer's ink, Indian ink, India ink, in mourning.

Also see definition of "ink" in Bible Study Dictionaries

For further exploring for "ink" in Webster Dictionary Online