Blue
Blue (blū) , adjective
[Old English bla, blo, blew, blue, livid, black, from Icelandicblār livid; akin to Danish blaa blue, Swedish blå, Dutch blauw, Old High German blāo, German blau; but influenced in form by French bleu, from Old High German blāo.]
1.
Having the color of the clear sky, or a hue resembling it, whether lighter or darker; as, the deep, blue sea; as blue as a sapphire; blue violets.
The blue firmament.
2.
Pale, without redness or glare, -- said of a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths.
3.
Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue.
4.
Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [Colloquial]
5.
Severe or over strict in morals; gloom; as, blue and sour religionists; suiting one who is over strict in morals; inculcating an impracticable, severe, or gloomy mortality; as, blue laws.
6.
Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of bluestocking. [Colloquial]
The ladies were very blue and well informed.
For his religion...
'T was Presbyterian, true blue.
Collocations (32)
Blue black , of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black.
Blue buck (Zoology) , a small South African antelope (Cephalophus pygmaus); also applied to a larger species (Agoceras leucophaus); the blaubok.
Blue cod (Zoology) , the buffalo cod.
Blue crab (Zoology) , the common edible crab of the Atlantic coast of the United States (Callinectes hastatus).
Blue curls (Botany) , a common plant (Trichostema dichotomum), resembling pennyroyal, and hence called also bastard pennyroyal.
Blue devils , apparitions supposed to be seen by persons suffering with delirium tremens; hence, very low spirits. Can Gumbo shut the hall door upon blue devils, or lay them all in a red sea of claret?
Blue gum , an Australian myrtaceous tree (Eucalyptus globulus), of the loftiest proportions, now cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions for its timber, and as a protection against malaria. The essential oil is beginning to be used in medicine. The timber is very useful. See Eucalyptus.
Blue jack or Blue stone , blue vitriol; sulphate of copper.
Blue jacket , a man-of war's man; a sailor wearing a naval uniform.
Blue laws , a name first used in the eighteenth century to describe certain supposititious laws of extreme rigor reported to have been enacted in New Haven; hence, any puritanical laws. [United States]
Blue light , a composition which burns with a brilliant blue flame; -- used in pyrotechnics and as a night signal at sea, and in military operations.
Blue mantle (Heraldry) , one of the four pursuivants of the English college of arms; -- so called from the color of his official robes.
Blue mass , a preparation of mercury from which is formed the blue pill. — McElrath
Blue mold or Blue mould , the blue fungus (Aspergillus glaucus) which grows on cheese. — Brande & C
Blue Monday , (a) a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). (b) a Monday considered as depressing because it is a workday in contrast to the relaxation of the weekend.
Blue ointment (Medicine) , mercurial ointment.
Blue Peter (British Marine) , a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to recall boats, etc. It is a corruption of blue repeater, one of the British signal flags.
Blue pill (Medicine) , (a) A pill of prepared mercury, used as an aperient, etc. (b) Blue mass.
Blue ribbon , (a) The ribbon worn by members of the order of the Garter; -- hence, a member of that order. (b) Anything the attainment of which is an object of great ambition; a distinction; a prize. — Farrar These [scholarships] were the blue ribbon of the college. (c) The distinctive badge of certain temperance or total abstinence organizations, as of the Blue ribbon Army.
Blue ruin , utter ruin; also, gin. [English Slang] — Carlyle
Blue thrush (Zoology) , a European and Asiatic thrush (Petrocossyphus cyaneas).
Blue vitriol (Chemistry) , sulphate of copper, a violet blue crystallized salt, used in electric batteries, calico printing, etc.
Blue water , the open ocean.
Big Blue , the International Business Machines corporation. [Wall Street slang.]
To look blue , to look disheartened or dejected.
True blue , genuine and thorough; not modified, nor mixed; not spurious; specifically, of uncompromising Presbyterianism, blue being the color adopted by the Covenanters.
Blue (blū) , noun
1.
One of the seven colors into which the rays of light divide themselves, when refracted through a glass prism; the color of the clear sky, or a color resembling that, whether lighter or darker; a pigment having such color.
the sky; as, to fly off into the blue. [poetically]
2.
A pedantic woman; a bluestocking. [Colloquial]
3.
Low spirits; a fit of despondency; melancholy. [Colloquial]
Blue ({not transcribed}) , transitive verb
To make blue; to dye of a blue color; to make blue by heating, as metals, etc.