sepian

comparative more sepian · superlative most sepian

1. archaicOf the sepia, i.e. the cuttlefish.

   He who dived in the swirling Maelstrom saw none to compare with them in horror: tentacular convolutions, tumid bulges, glaring orbs of sepian deformity, would have looked to him innocence beside such incarnations of hatefulness...

   1895, George MacDonald, Lilith

2. datedOf a dark or inky colour, often in reference to skin pigmentation.First known use mid 20th c.

   Randomly selecting a fruit fly with sepian (dark brown) eyes

   2010, Mario F. Triola, Elementary Statistics Technology Update, 11th revised edition of Elementary Statistics, published 2012, →ISBN, page 157

3. USdatedBelonging to or pertaining to black Americans or African Americans, who typically have dark pigmentation of the skin.First known use mid 20th c.

   Nineteenth century sepian musicals included Sam T. Jack's "Creoles" -1890...

   1941, Who is who in Music, Berghan Publishing Company, page 37

plural sepians

1. UScapitalizeddatedsometimesA black American or African American.First known use mid 20th c.

   1 more example

   Chicago Defender columnists forewarned viewers that despite [The World, the Flesh and the Devil's] marketing as the "first interracial romance between male Sepian and non-Sepian female star," the only personal contact between Belafonte and Stevens occurs during the haircut scene and when she takes his hand.

   2014 [1959], Judith E. Smith, Becoming Belafonte: Black Artist, Public Radical, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 187

   Synonyms: African-American