to hit the white
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To be quite right, make a good shot. The phrase is from the old days of archery, the white being the inner circle of the target — the bull's eye.
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 “to hit the white” mean?
To be quite right, make a good shot. The phrase is from the old days of archery, the white being the inner circle of the target — the bull's eye.
Is “to hit the white” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.