bright, adj.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

bright adj.¹

(US black) of a black person, light-skinned, thus phr. light, bright and damn near white.

1879		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 20 Dec. 10/3: Frank Morton [...] a bright-colored mulatto.
1900		C. Chesnutt House Behind The Cedars (1995) 182: She’s not white, boss, she’s a bright mulatto.
1933		(con. 1850s) R. Bradford Kingdom Coming 41: My maw say a nigger woman which git mixed up wid a white man ain’t got no call bellyache efn he chilluns is bright.
1935		D. Burley Chicago Defender 28 Sept. 2: The prominent Reverend who [was] kissing all the light ones and shaking hands with those not so bright.
1936		Amer. Sociol. Rev. 34 280: [L]ong-time residents with some dark skin pig- mentation who are described ( and treated ) as ‘light, bright and damn near white’.
1943		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 22 May 11: I want one [i.e. a woman] bright and damned near white.
1945		C. Himes If He Hollers 43: [S]ome stud said, ‘Light, bright and damn near white; how does that nigger do it?’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 34: bright mulatto An octaroon.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 113: Bright woman in a black coat and a red dress.
1969		U. Hannerz Soulside 196: Black people [...] should learn to value their ascribed selves. Their notion of beauty should not be ‘light, bright, and damn near white’.
1972		N.C. Heard To Reach a Dream 43: She was light, bright, and damn near white in attitude as well as skin color.
1981		McKee & Chisenhall Beale Black & Blue 140: I had one say to me, he say, ‘I’m dark and you bright and wonder what happened?’.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

In compounds

bright-skin (n.)

(US black) a light-skinned black or white person.

1931		N. Van Patten ‘Vocab. of the Amer. Negro’ in AS VII:1 27: bright-skin. K. n. A white person.
1932		J. Peterkin Bright Skin 192: I’m a bright skin, Blue. People here holds it against me. Cooch says bright-skin people stands well in town.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1960		P. Oliver Blues Fell this Morning 80: To differentiate between their many shades of colour [...] ‘brightskin,’ high yaller’, ‘lemon’.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 415: Other colorful terms that blacks have used for whites include bright skin, chalk, gray, milk, pale, paleface.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

Bright Aisle, the (n.)

the theatre and entertainment blocks of Broadway, NYC.

1911

D. Runyon ‘Far from the Big, Bright Aisle’ 9 July [synd. col.] I’d sort o’ like to [...] wander along the Bright Aisle, which is Broadway .

bright eyes (n.)

1. (US prison) a lookout.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 13/2: Bright eyes, a female lookout for thieves.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 792: bright eyes – A lookout man or woman.

2. (US campus) used ironically, an incompetent, a blunder.

1967–8

Baker et al. CUSS.

bright ’un (n.)

(Aus.) a gold coin, e.g. a sovereign.

1901

Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 16 Jan. 1/7: Plankin’ down your shiny bright ’uns.

In phrases

bright in the eye (adj.)

tipsy, drunk.

1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1931		T.R.G. Lyell Sl., Phrase and Idiom.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight.

bright adj.1

In compounds

SE in slang uses

In compounds

In phrases

bright adj.¹