a. [f. WHITE a. + -ISH1.]
1. Somewhat white; of a color inclining to or approaching white.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cl. (1495), T vj b/1. The leuys [of the trees of Sechym] ben rough and whitysshe.
1530. Palsgr., 329/1. Whytysshe, blanchastre.
1545. Raynalde, Byrth Mankynde, 122. Yf the wheles seme whytysshe.
1575. Turberv., Faulconrie, 17. Of the lesse Vulture, whiche is the browne or whitish Vulture.
1586. W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 74. When haires from my beard did ginne to be whitish.
1684. Boyle, Exper. Poros. Bod., II. vi. 105. A multitude of little cracks … which destroyed its former transparency, and made it [sc. a crystal] look whitish.
1790. Cook’s 1st Voy., I. 17. A species of the Medusa … which … emitted a whitish light.
1797. T. Morton, Cure for Heart-ache, I. i. 6–7. How whitish and deadly bad he do look.
1815. Scott, Guy M., x. A small swamp, the clay of which was whitish.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 333. The mucous membrane will … appear whitish from the presence of partially shed epithelium.
b. as sb. A color approaching white.
1815. Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., IX. I. 49. The shafts spotted with whitish, the feathers alternately banded with black and rufous.
2. a. Qualifying other adjs. (or sbs.) of color, indicating a pale or light tint of the color specified.
1653. R. Sanders, Physiogn., 166. A whitish-red colour.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 430. Turquois … of the New [Rock] are of an ill whitish Blew.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 436, ¶ 1. A whitish brown Paper.
1869. Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, iii. Her … whitish-blue eyes.
1883. D. C. Murray, Hearts, xvi. His swarthy face had taken an ugly tint of whitish-green.
b. In parasynthetic combinations.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Cassida, The whitish-flowered cassida.
1800. Shaw, Gen. Zool., I. 538. Whitish-tailed Shrew.
Hence Whitishness, the quality of being whitish; whitish color or tint.
1544. Phaër, Bk. Childr. (1553), T vij b. Yelownes or whittishnes of the eyes.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys. Mech., xxxvii. 307. They were wont … by their whiteishness, to emulate in some measure the apparition of Light.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 155. The best sort of barley … is of a pale lively yellow colour, with a bright whitishness in it.
1806. Herschel, in Phil. Trans., XCVI. 465. The north [polar regions of Saturn] retain … some whitishness.
