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White

denotes purity, simplicity, and candour; innocence, truth, and hope.

The ancient Druids, and indeed the priests generally of antiquity, used to wear white vestments, as do the clergy of the Established Church of England when they officiate in any sacred service. The magi also wore white robes.

The head of Osiris, in Egypt, was adorned with a white tiara; all her ornaments were white; and her priests were clad in white.

The priests of Jupiter, and the Flamen Diālis of Rome, were clothed in white, and wore white hats. The victims offered to Jupiter were white. The Roman festivals were marked with white chalk, and at the death of a Cæsar the national mourning was white; white horses were sacrificed to the sun, white oxen were selected for sacrifice by the Druids, and white elephants are held sacred in Siam.

The Persians affirm that the divinities are habited in white.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Whip with Six Strings (The)
Whipping Boy
Whiskers
Whisky
Whisky-drinker
Whist
Whistle (noun)
Whistle (verb)
Whistle Down the Wind (To)
Whistle for the Wind
White
White Bird (The)
White Brethren or White-clad Brethren
White Caps
White Caps
White Caps (1891)
White-coat (A)
White Cockade
White Company (The)
White Czar (The)
White Elephant

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Feather
Lie
Similes