black-and-blue

[ blak-uhn-bloo ]
See synonyms for black-and-blue on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. discolored, as by bruising; exhibiting ecchymosis: a black-and-blue mark on my knee.

Origin of black-and-blue

1
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use black-and-blue in a sentence

  • The west, half-way to the zenith, was green—the black-and-blue green of bruised flesh.

    Roof and Meadow | Dallas Lore Sharp
  • There was a long scratch on one calf and numerous black-and-blue spots around both knees.

    Rough Translation | Jean M. Janis
  • These would explode, and I was twice hit by the bullets, which left a black-and-blue mark.

    Edison, His Life and Inventions | Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin
  • Always it landed on some tender portion of my anatomy, so that my average, written in black-and-blue spots, remained an even 1000.

    One Third Off | Irvin S. Cobb
  • Don't know exactly what it was, but I warrant I'll have a nice black-and-blue mark to show for it.

British Dictionary definitions for black-and-blue

black-and-blue

adjective
  1. (of the skin) discoloured, as from a bruise

  2. feeling pain or soreness, as from a beating

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with black-and-blue

black-and-blue

Badly bruised, as in That fall down the stairs left me black and blue all over. Even though multicolored bruises rarely include the color black, this term has been so used since about 1300.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.