white russian

plural white russians

1. Alternative letter-case form of White Russian (“a cocktail consisting of coffee liqueur, vodka, and milk”).

1. not comparableOf or relating to Russians with tsarist or anti-Soviet sympathies in the period directly following the Revolution in 1917.

   The overseer of the clinic was a White Russian woman, a nun, formerly of the Russian Orthodox community in Jerusalem, but a good-hearted woman. In these cases, we should not be too scrupulous politically, said the priest.

   1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society, published 2010, page 340

2. not comparableobsoleteOf or relating to Belarus, literally "White Russia", or its language.

   Synonyms: Belarusan, Belarusian, Belorussian, Bielorussian, Byelorussian

plural White Russians

1. countableuncountableA cocktail consisting of coffee liqueur, vodka, and milk.

   Few cocktails include milk and cream, so the White Russian is a welcome departure from the norm. Already a popular drink in its own right, the White Russian was made famous by Jeff Bridges’ character in “The Big Lebowski.”

   2015, Shane Carley, The Mason Jar Cocktail Companion, Cider Mill Press, →ISBN, page 15

   Synonyms: Caucasian

2. countablehistoricaluncountableA White Guardist, a Russian who did not support the Socialists in the Revolution in 1917 and the Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and afterwards (e.g. as a White émigré).

   The White Guard colony in Harbin is armed and organized along military lines. At the head of this army of counter-revolution—the shock troops of Japanese imperialism—stands the notorious tsarist bandit, "Ataman" Semionov.

   [1935, Leon Dennen, White Guard Terrorists in the U.S.A., New York City: Friends of the Soviet Union, page 18

3. countableobsoleteuncountableA Belarusian person.

   (Thus Engels expected Austria-Hungary to swallow up the small Balkan countries; Poland, as a historical nation, should, he thought, be restored and include in its dominion the less developed peoples to the east-Lithuanians, White Russians, and Ukrainians.)

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 349

   Synonyms: Belarusan, Belarusian, Belorussian, Bielorussian, Byelorussian

1. obsoleteThe Belarusian language.

plural white Russians

1. countableuncountableAlternative letter-case form of White Russian (“cocktail consisting of coffee liqueur, vodka, and milk”).