Bluestocking

4 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.
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     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.]
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     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.
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     6. Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of
        {bluestocking}. [Colloq.]
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              The ladies were very blue and well informed.
                                                    --Thackeray.
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     {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.
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              For his religion . . .
              'T was Presbyterian, true blue.       --Hudibras.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Bluestocking \Blue"stock`ing\, n.
     1. A literary lady; a female pedant. [Colloq.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: As explained in Boswell's "Life of Dr. Johnson", this
           term is derived from the name given to certain meetings
           held by ladies, in Johnson's time, for conversation
           with distinguished literary men. An eminent attendant
           of these assemblies was a Mr. Stillingfleet, who always
           wore blue stockings. He was so much distinguished for
           his conversational powers that his absence at any time
           was felt to be a great loss, so that the remark became
           common, "We can do nothing without the blue stockings."
           Hence these meetings were sportively called
           bluestocking clubs, and the ladies who attended them,
           bluestockings.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Zool.) The American avocet ({Recurvirostra Americana}).
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  bluestocking
       n : a woman having literary or intellectual interests [syn: {bas
           bleu}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  21 Moby Thesaurus words for "bluestocking":
     bibliophagic, book-fed, book-learned, book-loving, book-minded,
     book-read, book-wise, bookish, booky, donnish, formalist, inkhorn,
     literary, pedant, pedantic, precieuse, precieux, precisian,
     precisionist, purist, scholastic