colouring

Everyday

1. (noun) The colour or colours of something, especially of a person's skin, hair and eyes or an animal's fur or feathers: «a fox's red colouring». tree →
2. (noun) A substance added to food or drink to give it colour: «food colouring». tree →
3. (noun) The activity of filling in pictures with crayons, pencils or pens: «a colouring book». tree →
4. (verb form) Giving colour to something now: «I am colouring the sky blue». tree →
5. (noun, formal) The way something is presented that changes how people feel about it: «political colouring». tree →

In the lessons

In art and early school, colouring in is a common activity («colouring-in sheet», «stay inside the lines»). In science, animal colouring helps camouflage or warns predators (a wasp's warning colouring). In cooking, a few drops of food colouring change icing or play dough. Phrases: «colouring in», «colouring book», «colouring pencils», «food colouring», «natural colouring», «warning colouring».

Examples

• My little sister loves her dinosaur colouring book. tree →
• We added green food colouring to the icing for St Patrick's Day. tree →
• The tiger's striped colouring helps it hide in long grass. tree →
• I am colouring the sea in two shades of blue. tree →
• She has her dad's colouring: red hair and freckles. tree →
• Some sweets use colouring made from beetroot. tree →
• Bright warning colouring tells birds that the frog is poisonous. tree →
• Finish your colouring in and then put the pencils away. tree →

Note

British, Irish, Canadian, Australian and NZ spelling: colouring; American spelling: coloring. Countable for kinds of food dye (artificial colourings), uncountable for the activity. «Colouring in» means filling in an outline. Using «colouring» about a person usually means hair, skin and eyes, not just skin.