nigger-brown

plural nigger-browns

1. archaiccountableethnicoffensivesluruncountableA dark brown color.First known use 20th c.

   Looking at the slight naked figures of various shades from Ng-Gunko's nigger-brown to Sigrid's rich cream, […] I felt that I had strayed into an island of goblins.

   1935, Olaf Stapledon, Odd John, Gollancz, published 2012, page 173

1. archaicnot comparableoffensiveHaving a dark brown colour.First known use 20th c.

   Fireplace, AT LEFT, tiled with nigger-brown briquettes.

   1949, C. Geoffrey Holme, Decorative Art, page 26

   4 more examples

   She is on the sofa, knitting a nigger-brown jumper which looks as if it will be quite successful.

   1935, Alan Campbell-Johnson, Growing Opinions: A Symposium of British Youth Outlook, page 165

   The walls and ceiling of this drawing-room in Montague Square are painted ivory. The modern sofa built on classical lines is covered in nigger brown striped moire and fringed all round with brown and white spaced fringe […]

   1938, Interior Decoration To-day, page 132

   The first class compartments are trimmed below the waist with grained nigger-brown leather cloth and above with beige leather cloth with a nigger brown band behind the chromium-plated luggage racks.

   1950 July, “Diesel Train Services for G.N.R.(I.)”, in Railway Magazine, page 490

   We have a three-piece suite upholstered in nigger-brown velvet […]

   1956, Homes and Gardens, volume 38, page 175