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# colouring

noun (colouring, colourings; US spelling coloring); verb form (present participle of colour: colouring)

«colouring» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#m1)
2. (noun) A substance added to food or drink to give it colour: «food colouring». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#m2)
3. (noun) The activity of filling in pictures with crayons, pencils or pens: «a colouring book». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#m3)
4. (verb form) Giving colour to something now: «I am colouring the sky blue». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#m4)
5. (noun, formal) The way something is presented that changes how people feel about it: «political colouring». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#m5)

### 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#x1)
- We added green food colouring to the icing for St Patrick's Day. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#x2)
- The tiger's striped colouring helps it hide in long grass. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#x3)
- I am colouring the sea in two shades of blue. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#x4)
- She has her dad's colouring: red hair and freckles. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#x5)
- Some sweets use colouring made from beetroot. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#x6)
- Bright warning colouring tells birds that the frog is poisonous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#x7)
- Finish your colouring in and then put the pencils away. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/#x8)

### 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.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «colouring» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/colouring/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«colouring» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/colouring.html) on Mova free.