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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.

Definition 2024

Blue

Blue

See also: blue

English

Proper noun

Blue

  1. A surname​. An anglicization of German Blau.
  2. (rare) A female given name, typically used in conjoined names like Bonnie Blue or Blue Bell.
  3. A male nickname, occasionally used as a formal given name.

Quotations

  • 1957, Rolf Harris, Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport (song)
    Play your didgeridoo, Blue.
  • 1983 Gilbert Sorrentino, Blue Pastoral, Dalkey Archive Press, 2000, ISBN 1564782514, page 49:
    Serge is my name; some call me Blue, as you will see if you think about it, this makes my pen name, Blue Serge.
  • 2003 Mark W. Royston, The Spout Spring, iUniverse 2003, ISBN 0595301878, page 35:
    "Uriah Blue Royston," she rolled the name over. "Uriah, I understand, but Blue?" she questioned.
    "Ann's grandfather's name was Blue, although it probably started out as 'Blew'," Peter mumbled, trying to remember the Dutch spelling.

Noun

Blue ‎(plural Blues)

  1. A letterman at Oxford or Cambridge.
  2. (historical) A member of the Royal Horse Guards (which merged with the 1st Dragoons in 1969)
    • 1944 Noël Coward, I Wonder What Happened to Him?, first verse:
      Have you heard any news / Of that chap in the Blues / Was it Prosser, or Pyecroft, or Pimm?

Anagrams

blue

blue

See also: Blue

English

Various shades of blue
A Jämthund, which is a dog with blue (gray) fur
A bluefish

Alternative forms

Adjective

blue ‎(comparative bluer, superlative bluest)

  1. Of the colour blue.
    the deep blue sea‎
  2. (informal) Depressed, melancholic, sad.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter IX”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”
    • 1904, Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Transgression of Andrew Vane, Henry Holt and Company, page 140:
      "Will you play some of the 'Garden' now?" she asked. "I think I should like it. I'm just the least bit blue."
  3. Pale, without redness or glare; said of a flame.
    The candle burns blue.‎
  4. (entertainment, informal) Pornographic or profane.
    The air was blue with oaths.  a blue movie‎
  5. (politics) Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
    1. (politics, in particular, in the US) Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by the Democratic Party. [after 2000]
      I live in a blue constituency.  Congress turned blue in the mid-term elections.‎
    2. (Australia, politics) Supportive of or related to the Liberal Party.
      Illawarra turns blue in Liberal washout‎
  6. (astronomy) Of the higher-frequency region of the part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.
  7. (of steak) Extra rare; left very raw and cold.
  8. (of a dog or cat) Having a coat of fur of a slaty gray shade.
  9. (archaic) Severe or overly strict in morals; gloomy.
    blue and sour religionists;  blue laws‎
  10. (archaic, of women) literary; bluestockinged.
  11. (particle physics) Having a color charge of blue.

Antonyms

Translations

Noun

blue ‎(plural blues)

  1. The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea, between green and violet in the visible spectrum, and one of the primary additive colours for transmitted light; the colour obtained by subtracting red and green from white light using magenta and cyan filters; or any colour resembling this.
    blue colour:    
    • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
      She watches the yachts in the creamy evening blues.
  2. A blue dye or pigment.
  3. Any of several processes to protect metal against rust.
  4. Blue clothing
    The boys in blue marched to the pipers.
  5. (in the plural) A blue uniform. See blues.
  6. (slang) A member of law enforcement
  7. The sky, literally or figuratively.
    The ball came out of the blue and cracked his windshield.
    His request for leave came out of the blue.
  8. The ocean; deep waters.
  9. Anything blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in color.
  10. (snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 5 points.
  11. Any of the blue-winged butterflies of the subfamily Polyommatini in the family Lycaenidae.
  12. A bluefish.
  13. (Australia, colloquial) An argument.
    • 2008, Cheryl Jorgensen, The Taint, page 135,
      If they had a blue between themselves, they kept it there, it never flowed out onto the streets to innocent people — like a lot of things that have been happenin′ on the streets today.
    • 2009, John Gilfoyle, Remember Cannon Hill, page 102,
      On another occasion, there was a blue between Henry Daniels and Merv Wilson down at the pig sale. I don′t know what it was about, it only lasted a minute or so, but they shook hands when it was over and that was the end of it.
    • 2011, Julietta Jameson, Me, Myself and Lord Byron, unnumbered page,
      I was a bit disappointed. Was that it? No abuse like Lord Byron had endured? Not that I was wishing that upon myself. It was just that a blue between my parents, albeit a raging, foul, bile-spitting hate fest, was not exactly Charles Dickens.
  14. A liquid with an intense blue colour, added to a laundry wash to prevent yellowing of white clothes.
  15. (Britain) A type of firecracker.
  16. (archaic) A pedantic woman; a bluestocking.
  17. (particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.

Translations

External links

Verb

blue ‎(third-person singular simple present blues, present participle blueing or bluing, simple past and past participle blued)

  1. (ergative) To make or become blue.
  2. (transitive, metallurgy) To treat the surface of steel so that it is passivated chemically and becomes more resistant to rust.
  3. (transitive, laundry) To brighten by treating with blue (laundry aid)
  4. (transitive, slang) To spend (money) extravagantly; to blow.
    • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, page 311:
      They was willing to blue the lot and have nothing left when they got home except debts on the never-never.

Translations

Derived terms

See also

Colors in English · colors, colours (layout · text)
     red      green      yellow      cream      white
     crimson      magenta      teal      lime      pink
     indigo      blue      orange      gray, grey      violet
     black      purple      brown      azure, sky blue      cyan

Anagrams

Esperanto

Adverb

blue

  1. bluely
    blue colour:    

Related terms

Pronunciation

Similar Results