3 definitions found From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Blue \Blue\ (bl[=u]), a. [Compar. {Bluer} (bl[=u]"[~e]r); superl. {Bluest}.] [OE. bla, blo, blew, blue, livid, black, fr. Icel.bl[=a]r livid; akin to Dan. blaa blue, Sw. bl[*a], D. blauw, OHG. bl[=a]o, G. blau; but influenced in form by F. bleu, from OHG. bl[=a]o.] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 3. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue. [1913 Webster] 4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 6. Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of {bluestocking}. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster] The ladies were very blue and well informed. --Thackeray. [1913 Webster] {Blue asbestus}. See {Crocidolite}. {Blue black}, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black. {Blue blood}. See under {Blood}. {Blue buck} (Zool.), a small South African antelope ({Cephalophus pygm[ae]us}); also applied to a larger species ({[AE]goceras leucoph[ae]us}); the blaubok. {Blue cod} (Zool.), the buffalo cod. {Blue crab} (Zool.), the common edible crab of the Atlantic coast of the United States ({Callinectes hastatus}). {Blue curls} (Bot.), 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?" --Thackeray. {Blue gage}. See under {Gage}, a plum. {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}, {Blue stone}, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper. {Blue jacket}, a man-of war's man; a sailor wearing a naval uniform. {Blue jaundice}. See under {Jaundice}. {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. [U. S.] {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} (Her.), 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} (Med.), 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}. (Med.) (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. "These [scholarships] were the --blue ribbon of the college." --Farrar. (c) The distinctive badge of certain temperance or total abstinence organizations, as of the --Blue ribbon Army. {Blue ruin}, utter ruin; also, gin. [Eng. Slang] --Carlyle. {Blue spar} (Min.), azure spar; lazulite. See {Lazulite}. {Blue thrush} (Zool.), a European and Asiatic thrush ({Petrocossyphus cyaneas}). {Blue verditer}. See {Verditer}. {Blue vitriol} (Chem.), 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.] PJC {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. [1913 Webster] For his religion . . . 'T was Presbyterian, true blue. --Hudibras. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]: blue adj 1: having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky; "October's bright blue weather"- Helen Hunt Jackson; "a blue flame"; "blue haze of tobacco smoke" [syn: {bluish}, {blueish}, {light-blue}, {dark-blue}, {blue-black}] 2: used to signify the Union forces in the Civil War (who wore blue uniforms); "a ragged blue line" 3: low in spirits; "lonely and blue in a strange city"; "depressed by the loss of his job"; "a dispirited and resigned expression on her face"; "downcast after his defeat"; "feeling discouraged and downhearted" [syn: {depressed}, {dispirited}, {down(p)}, {downcast}, {downhearted}, {down in the mouth}, {low}, {low-spirited}] 4: characterized by profanity or cursing; "foul-mouthed and blasphemous"; "blue language"; "profane words" [syn: {blasphemous}, {profane}] 5: suggestive of sexual impropriety; "a blue movie"; "blue jokes"; "he skips asterisks and gives you the gamy details"; "a juicy scandal"; "a naughty wink"; "naughty words"; "racy anecdotes"; "a risque story"; "spicy gossip" [syn: {gamy}, {gamey}, {juicy}, {naughty}, {racy}, {risque}, {spicy}] 6: belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy; "an aristocratic family"; "aristocratic Bostonians"; "aristocratic government"; "a blue family"; "blue blood"; "the blue-blooded aristocracy"; "of gentle blood"; "patrician landholders of the American South"; "aristocratic bearing"; "aristocratic features"; "patrician tastes" [syn: {aristocratic}, {aristocratical}, {blue-blooded}, {gentle}, {patrician}] 7: morally rigorous and strict; "blue laws"; "the puritan work ethic"; "puritanic distaste for alcohol"; "she was anything but puritanical in her behavior" [syn: {blue(a)}, {puritan}, {puritanic}, {puritanical}] 8: causing dejection; "a blue day"; "the dark days of the war"; "a week of rainy depressing weather"; "a disconsolate winter landscape"; "the first dismal dispiriting days of November"; "a dark gloomy day"; "grim rainy weather" [syn: {dark}, {depressing}, {disconsolate}, {dismal}, {dispiriting}, {gloomy}, {grim}] n 1: the color of the clear sky in the daytime; "he had eyes of bright blue" [syn: {blueness}] 2: blue clothing; "she was wearing blue" 3: any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are blue; "the Union army was a vast blue" 4: the sky as viewed during daylight; "he shot an arrow into the blue" [syn: {blue sky}, {blue air}, {wild blue yonder}] 5: used to whiten laundry or hair or give it a bluish tinge [syn: {bluing}, {blueing}] 6: the sodium salt of amobarbital that is used as a barbiturate; used as a sedative and a hypnotic [syn: {amobarbital sodium}, {blue angel}, {blue devil}, {Amytal}] 7: any of numerous small chiefly blue butterflies of the family Lycaenidae v : turn blue [also: {bluest}, {bluer}] From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]: bluer See {blue}
Powered by Blog Dictionary [BlogDict]
Kindly supported by
Vaffle Invitation Code
Get a Freelance Job - Outsource Your Projects | Threadless Coupon
All rights
reserved. (2008-2024)