Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COL'OR, v.t.

1. To change or alter the external appearances of a body or substance; to dye; to tinge; to paint; to stain; as, to color cloth. Generally, to color is to change from white to some other color.
2. To give a specious appearance; to set in a fair light; to palliate; to excuse. He colors the falsehood of Æneas by an express command of Jupiter to forsake the queen. – Dryden.
3. To make plausible; to exaggerate in representation. – Addison. To color a stranger's goods, is when a freeman allows a foreigner to enter goods at the custom-house in his name, to avoid the alien's duty.