in·di·go

(ĭn′dĭ-gō′)

n. pl. in·di·gos or in·di·goes

a. Any of various shrubs or herbs of the genus Indigofera in the pea family, having pinnately compound leaves and usually red or purple flowers in axillary racemes.

b. A dark blue crystalline compound, C₁₆H₁₀N₂O₂, that is obtained from these plants or produced synthetically and is widely used as a textile dye. Also called indigotin.

2. Any of several related plants, especially those of the genera Amorpha and Baptisia.

3. The hue of that portion of the visible spectrum lying between blue and violet, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 420 to 450 nanometers; a dark blue to grayish purple blue.

[Spanish índigo and Dutch indigo (from Portuguese endego), both from Latin indicum, from Greek Indikon (pharmakon), Indian (dye), neuter of Indikos, of India, from India, India, from Indos, the Indus River, from Old Persian Hinduš, Sind; see Hindi.]

in′di·go′ adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

indigo

(ˈɪndɪˌɡəʊ)

n, pl -gos or -goes

1. (Dyeing) Also called: indigotin a blue vat dye originally obtained from plants but now made synthetically

2. (Plants) any of various tropical plants of the leguminous genus Indigofera, such as the anil, that yield this dye. Compare wild indigo

3. (Colours)

a. any of a group of colours that have the same blue-violet hue; a spectral colour

b. (as adjective): an indigo carpet.

[C16: from Spanish indico, via Latin from Greek Indikos of India]

indigotic adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

in•di•go

(ˈɪn dɪˌgoʊ)

n., pl. -gos, -goes,
adj. n.

1. a blue dye, C₁₆H₁₀N₂O₂, obtained from various plants, esp. of the genus Indigofera, or manufactured synthetically.

2. indigo blue (def. 2).

3. any hairy plant of the genus Indigofera, of the legume family, having clusters of usu. red or purple flowers.

4. a color ranging from a deep violet blue to a dark grayish blue.

adj.

5. of the color indigo.

[1545–55; < Sp or Portuguese, índigo < Latin indicum < Greek indikón Indic]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	indigo - a blue dye obtained from plants or made synthetically anil, indigotin dye, dyestuff - a usually soluble substance for staining or coloring e.g. fabrics or hair
	2.	indigo - deciduous subshrub of southeastern Asia having pinnate leaves and clusters of red or purple flowers; a source of indigo dye indigo plant, Indigofera tinctoria genus Indigofera, Indigofera - genus of tropical herbs and shrubs having odd-pinnate leaves and spurred flowers in long racemes or spikes Indigofera anil, Indigofera suffruticosa, anil - shrub of West Indies and South America that is a source of indigo dye bush, shrub - a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems
	3.	indigo - a blue-violet color reddish blue, violet - a variable color that lies beyond blue in the spectrum
Adj.	1.	indigo - having a color between blue and violet; "indigo flowers" coloured, colorful - having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination; "colored crepe paper"; "the film was in color"; "amber-colored heads of grain"

Translations

indigaindigo

indygo

indigo

[ˈɪndɪgəʊ]

A. N (indigos or indigoes (pl)) (= colour) → añil m, índigo m

B. ADJ → añil inv, índigo inv

C. CPD indigo blue N → azul m añil or índigo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

indigo

[ˈɪndɪgəʊ]

adj → indigo inv

n → indigo m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

indigo

n → Indigo nt or m

adj → indigofarben

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

indigo

[ˈɪndɪgəʊ]

1. n → indaco

2. adj → (color) indaco inv

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

He strolled westward by Albany Street, facing the sunset embers, pleased, he knew not why, to move in that cold air and indigo twilight, starred with street-lamps.

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At this point indicated on the planisphere one of these currents was rolling, the Kuro-Scivo of the Japanese, the Black River, which, leaving the Gulf of Bengal, where it is warmed by the perpendicular rays of a tropical sun, crosses the Straits of Malacca along the coast of Asia, turns into the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands, carrying with it trunks of camphor-trees and other indigenous productions, and edging the waves of the ocean with the pure indigo of its warm water.

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Among the passengers were a number of officers, Government officials, and opium and indigo merchants, whose business called them to the eastern coast.

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There the sugar-cane and indigo plant attain a perfection unequalled in any other part of North America.

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"Oh, Crimsworth is better filled up than I am, I know besides he has a straight nose, arched eyebrows, and all that; but these advantages--if they are advantages--he did not inherit from his mother, the patrician, but from his father, old Crimsworth, who, MY father says, was as veritable a shire blue-dyer as ever put indigo in a vat yet withal the handsomest man in the three Ridings.

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Mosfeia had disappeared from the horizon long ere this, and the Mandara country was developing to the gaze of our aeronauts its astonishing fertility, with its forests of acacias, its locust-trees covered with red flowers, and the herbaceous plants of its fields of cotton and indigo trees.

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"I might as well begin at once, and give the child something new to think about, for Myra's dismals and Jane's lectures have made her as blue as a little indigo bag."

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The people all dress in strong woollen garments, which each family makes for itself, and dyes with indigo of a dark blue colour.

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He could see the evening gatherings, held on the circle of the threshing- floors, because that was the only level ground; could see the wonderful unnamed green of the young rice, the indigo blues of the Indian corn, the dock-like patches of buckwheat, and, in its season, the red bloom of the amaranth, whose tiny seeds, being neither grain nor pulse, make a food that can be lawfully eaten by Hindus in time of fasts.

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The night having arrived, however, the lady Scheherazade not only put the finishing stroke to the black cat and the rat (the rat was blue) but before she well knew what she was about, found herself deep in the intricacies of a narration, having reference (if I am not altogether mistaken) to a pink horse (with green wings) that went, in a violent manner, by clockwork, and was wound up with an indigo key.

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The water was roughish, a cold, clear indigo breaking into whitecaps.

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The green gaiety of the waving laurels, the rich purple indigo of the night, the moon like a monstrous crystal, make an almost irresponsible romantic picture; and among the top branches of the garden trees a strange figure is climbing, who looks not so much romantic as impossible.

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