purple and violet
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To express royalty, "kings and priests to God/* The colour of mourning for cardinals and the kings of France; in Turkey the colour is violet.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “purple and violet” mean?
To express royalty, "kings and priests to God/* The colour of mourning for cardinals and the kings of France; in Turkey the colour is violet.
Is “purple and violet” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.