Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - purple

 I. adjective  (~r; ~st)  Etymology: Middle English purpel, alteration of purper, from Old English purpuran of ~, genitive of purpure ~ color, from Latin purpura, from Greek porphyra  Date: before 12th century  1. regal, imperial  2. of the color ~  3.  a. highly rhetorical ; ornate  b. marked by profanity  II. noun  Date: 15th century  1.  a.  (1) cloth dyed ~  (2) a garment of such color; especially a ~ robe worn as an emblem of rank or authority  b.  (1) Tyrian ~  (2) any of various colors that fall about midway between red and blue in hue  c.  (1) a mollusk (as of the genus Purpura) yielding a ~ dye and especially the Tyrian ~ of ancient times  (2) a pigment or dye that colors ~  2.  a. imperial or regal rank or power  b. high rank or station  III. verb  (~d; purpling)  Date: 15th century  transitive verb to make ~  intransitive verb to become ~