blue

[ bloo ]

/ blu /

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR blue ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the pure color of a clear sky; the primary color between green and violet in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 450 and 500 nm.

bluing.

something having a blue color: Place the blue next to the red.

a person who wears blue or is a member of a group characterized by some blue symbol: Tomorrow the blues will play the browns.

(often initial capital letter) a member of the Union army in the American Civil War or the army itself.Compare gray¹(def 13).

bluestocking.

blue ribbon(def 1).

any of several blue-winged butterflies of the family Lycaenidae.

Printing. blueline.

the blue,

the sky.
the sea.
the remote distance: They've vanished into the blue somewhere.

adjective, blu·er, blu·est.

of the color of blue: a blue tie.

(initial capital letter) of or relating to the Union army in the American Civil War.

(of the skin) discolored by cold, contusion, fear, or vascular collapse.

depressed in spirits; dejected; melancholy: She felt blue about not being chosen for the team.

holding or offering little hope; dismal; bleak: a blue outlook.

characterized by or stemming from rigid morals or religion: statutes that were blue and unrealistic.

marked by blasphemy: The air was blue with oaths.

(of an animal's pelage) grayish-blue.

indecent; somewhat obscene; risqué: a blue joke or film.

verb (used with object), blued, blu·ing or blue·ing.

to make blue; dye a blue color.

to tinge with bluing: Don't blue your clothes till the second rinse.

verb (used without object), blued, blu·ing or blue·ing.

to become or turn blue.

Nearby words

Idioms

blue in the face, exhausted and speechless, as from excessive anger, physical strain, etc.: I reminded him about it till I was blue in the face.

out of the blue, suddenly and unexpectedly: The inheritance came out of the blue as a stroke of good fortune.

Origin of blue

1250–1300; Middle English blewe < Anglo-French blew, bl(i)u, bl(i)ef blue, livid, discolored, Old French blo, blau (French bleu) < Germanic *blǣwaz; compare Old English blǣwen, contraction of blǣhǣwen deep blue, perse (see blae, hue¹), Old Frisian blāw, Middle Dutch blā(u), Old High German blāo (German blau), Old Norse blār

SYNONYMS FOR blue

1. azure, cerulean, sapphire. 14. despondent, unhappy, morose, doleful, dispirited, sad, glum, downcast. 15. gloomy, dispiriting. 16. righteous, puritanical, moral, severe, prudish.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR blue ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR blue

14. happy.

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Related formsblue·ly, adverbblue·ness, nounhalf-blue, adjectiveun·blued, adjective

Can be confusedblew blue

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for blue

Clad in a blue, striped button-down, a silver watch adorning his left wrist, Huckabee beams on the cover.
Huckabee 2016: Bend Over and Take It Like a Prisoner!|Olivia Nuzzi|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It denotes the person that puts on the badge, puts on the blue uniform, and goes into the streets to put their life at risk.
Cop Families Boo De Blasio at NYPD Graduation|Michael Daly|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They looked up into the blue sky as the helicopters flew over in a lost man formation.
Choking Back Tears, Thousands of Cops Honor Fallen Officer Ramos|Michael Daly|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Basosila Botala is wearing a blue rain jacket despite the sweltering heat.
The Congo's Forgotten Colonial Getaway|Nina Strochlic|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST

In one picture, his head gets ripped off by a blue dragon; in another, he is the blue dragon.
‘All Good Cretins Go to Heaven’: Dee Dee Ramone’s Twisted Punk Paintings|Melissa Leon|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The fruit of the blue grape is sour and hangs in long, heavy clusters.
On the Trail|Lina Beard and Adelia Belle Beard
It is produced by combining a blue or purple with red when a compound colour is used.
Cooley's Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I|Arnold Cooley
Now there are eleven of them, and their wings shine in the sun like blue steel.
Trans-Himalaya, Vol. 1 (of 2)|Sven Hedin
Excitement, too, had lent a warmer pink to her apple cheeks, and her blue eyes were like deep and hating stars.
McClure's Magazine, Vol. 31, No. 1, May 1908|Various
With no guides but the stars by night and the blue edge of the land by day, there was need for keen eyesight and watchfulness.
Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art|Various

British Dictionary definitions for blue

blue

/ (bluː) /

noun

any of a group of colours, such as that of a clear unclouded sky, that have wavelengths in the range 490–445 nanometres. Blue is the complementary colour of yellow and with red and green forms a set of primary coloursRelated adjective: cyanic

a dye or pigment of any of these colours

blue cloth or clothingdressed in blue

a sportsperson who represents or has represented Oxford or Cambridge University and has the right to wear the university colour (dark blue for Oxford, light blue for Cambridge)an Oxford blue
the honour of so representing one's university

British an informal name for Tory

any of numerous small blue-winged butterflies of the genera Lampides, Polyommatus, etc: family Lycaenidae

archaic short for bluestocking

slang a policeman

archery a blue ring on a target, between the red and the black, scoring five points

a blue ball in snooker, etc

another name for blueing

Australian and NZ slang an argument or fighthe had a blue with a taxi driver

Also: bluey Australian and NZ slang a court summons, esp for a traffic offence

Australian and NZ informal a mistake; error

out of the blue apparently from nowhere; unexpectedlythe opportunity came out of the blue

into the blue into the unknown or the far distance

adjective bluer or bluest

of the colour blue

(of the flesh) having a purple tinge, as from cold or contusion

depressed, moody, or unhappy

dismal or depressinga blue day

indecent, titillating, or pornographicblue films

bluish in colour or having parts or marks that are bluisha blue fox; a blue whale

rare aristocratic; noble; patriciana blue family See blue blood

US relating to, supporting, or representing the Democratic PartyCompare red 1 (def. 18)

verb blues, blueing, bluing or blued

to make, dye, or become blue

(tr) to treat (laundry) with blueing

(tr) slang to spend extravagantly or wastefully; squander

Word Origin for blue

C13: from Old French bleu, of Germanic origin; compare Old Norse blār, Old High German blāo, Middle Dutch blā; related to Latin flāvus yellow

Blue

Bluey

/ (bluː) /

noun

Australian informal a nickname for a person with red hair

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

Word Origin and History for blue

blue

c.1300, bleu, blwe, etc., from Old French blo "pale, pallid, wan, light-colored; blond; discolored; blue, blue-gray," from Frankish *blao or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *blæwaz (cf. Old English blaw, Old Saxon and Old High German blao, Danish blaa, Swedish blå, Old Frisian blau, Middle Dutch bla, Dutch blauw, German blau "blue"), from PIE *bhle-was "light-colored, blue, blond, yellow," from PIE root bhel- (1) "to shine, flash" (see bleach (v.)).

The same PIE root yielded Latin flavus "yellow," Old Spanish blavo "yellowish-gray," Greek phalos "white," Welsh blawr "gray," Old Norse bla "livid" (the meaning in black and blue), showing the usual slippery definition of color words in Indo-European The present spelling is since 16c., from French influence (Modern French bleu).

The exact color to which the Gmc. term applies varies in the older dialects; M.H.G. bla is also 'yellow,' whereas the Scandinavian words may refer esp. to a deep, swarthy black, e.g. O.N. blamaðr, N.Icel. blamaður 'Negro' [Buck]

Few words enter more largely into the composition of slang, and colloquialisms bordering on slang, than does the word BLUE. Expressive alike of the utmost contempt, as of all that men hold dearest and love best, its manifold combinations, in ever varying shades of meaning, greet the philologist at every turn. [John S. Farmer, "Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present," 1890, p.252]

The color of constancy since Chaucer at least, but apparently for no deeper reason than the rhyme in true blue (c.1500). From early times blue was the distinctive color of the dress of servants, which may be the reason police uniforms are blue, a tradition Farmer dates to Elizabethan times. For blue ribbon see cordon bleu under cordon. Blue whale attested from 1851, so called for its color. The flower name blue bell is recorded by 1570s. Blue streak, of something resembling a blt of lightning (for quickness, intensity, etc.) is from 1830, U.S. Western slang.

Many Indo-European languages seem to have had a word to describe the color of the sea, encompasing blue and green and gray; e.g. Irish glass (see Chloe); Old English hæwen "blue, gray," related to har (see hoar); Serbo-Croatian sinji "gray-blue, sea-green;" Lithuanian šyvas, Russian sivyj "gray."

blue

"lewd, indecent" recorded from 1840 (in form blueness, in an essay of Carlyle's); the sense connection is unclear, and is opposite to that in blue laws (q.v.). John Mactaggart's "Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia" (1824) containing odd words he had learned while growing up in Galloway and elsewhere in Scotland, has an entry for Thread o'Blue, "any little smutty touch in song-singing, chatting, or piece of writing." Farmer ["Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present," 1890] offers the theory that this meaning derives from the blue dress uniforms issued to harlots in houses of correction, but he writes that the earlier slang authority John Camden Hotten "suggests it as coming from the French Bibliothèque Bleu, a series of books of very questionable character," and adds, from Hotten, that, "Books or conversation of an entirely opposite nature are said to be Brown or Quakerish, i.e., serious, grave, decent."

"to make blue," c.1600, from blue (1).

Idioms and Phrases with blue

blue

In addition to the idioms beginning with blue

blue funk, in a
blue in the face

also see:

between a rock and a hard place (devil and deep blue sea)
black and blue
bolt from the blue
have the blues
into thin air (the blue)
like greased lightning (a blue streak)
once in a blue moon
out of a clear blue sky
talk one's arm off (a blue streak
until blue in the face)

blue

noun

adjective, blu·er, blu·est.

verb (used with object), blued, blu·ing or blue·ing.

verb (used without object), blued, blu·ing or blue·ing.

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RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Idioms

Origin of blue

Examples from the Web for blue

blue

noun

adjective bluer or bluest

verb blues, blueing, bluing or blued

Word Origin for blue

Blue

Bluey

noun

blue

blue

blue