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Webster 1913 Edition

Blue

Blue

(blū)
,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Bluer
(blū′ẽr)
;
sup
erl.
Bluest
.]
[OE.
bla
,
blo
,
blew
, blue, livid, black, fr. Icel.
blār
livid; akin to Dan.
blaa
blue, Sw.
blå
, D.
blauw
, OHG.
blāo
, G.
blau
; but influenced in form by F.
bleu
, from OHG.
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.”
Milton.
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
.
[Colloq.]
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
.
[Colloq.]
The ladies were very
blue
and well informed.
Thackeray.
For his religion . . .
’T was Presbyterian,
true blue
.
Hudibras.

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.
Sometimes,
poetically
,
the sky;
as, to fly off into the
blue
.
2.
A pedantic woman; a bluestocking.
[Colloq.]
3.
pl.
[Short for
blue devils
.]
Low spirits; a fit of despondency; melancholy.
[Colloq.]
Berlin blue
,
Prussian blue.
–
Mineral blue
.
See under
Mineral
.
–
Prussian blue
.
See under
Prussian
.

Blue

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Blued
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Bluing
.]
To make blue; to dye of a blue color; to make blue by heating, as metals, etc.

Webster 1828 Edition

Blue

BLUE

,
Adj.
blu.
One of the seven colors, into which the rays of light divide themselves, when refracted through a glass prism. There are various shades of blue, as sky-blue, or azure, Prussian blue, indigo blue, smalt blue, &c.
Prussian blue, a combination of the oxyd of iron with an acid called ferro-prussic.

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