black-a-vised (bl?k??-v?st?, -v?zd?)adj. Chiefly British Having a dark complexion.[From dialectal black a vice : black + dialectal a, of, on (probably from French à, from Old French, from Latin ad, to, on; see ad-) + vice, face (from Old French vis, face, from Latin v?sus, past participle of vid?re, to see; see weid- in Indo-European roots).]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.