Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Blackamoor.

 Blackacre (Widow).Blackness. 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Blackamoor.
 
Washing the blackamoor white—i.e. engaged upon a hopeless and useless task. The allusion is to one of Æsop’s fables so entitled.   1
 


 Blackacre (Widow).Blackness. 

 
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