Purple

a color obtained by mixing pure red and pure blue. Tyrian purple was obtained at great cost from a shellfish,--a sort of Phoenician whelk known as a murex, each yielding but a drop of dye. In the day of Cicero a pound of fine wool dyed with Tyrian purple was valued at $175. From its excessive cost, purple was the emblem of rulers. The consular toga bore a purple border. The Roman emperor wore a purple toga. The term, "royal purple," is still current. Italy kept secret for a century a process of dyeing purple with a sort of lichen. Purple dye is now obtained inexpensively from aniline, a byproduct of coal tar.