blue blood

American  

[bloo bluhd, bloo bluhd] / ˈblu ˌblʌd, ˈblu ˈblʌd /

noun

1. an aristocrat, noble, or member of a socially prominent family.

2. aristocratic, noble, or socially prominent lineage or relatives.

   They boasted a lineage of pure blue blood.

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blue blood British  

noun

1. royal or aristocratic descent

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Other Word Forms

• blue-blooded adjective

Etymology

Origin of blue blood

1825–35; translation of Spanish sangre azul. See sanguine, azure

Example Sentences

Before his senior year, he could become the centerpiece of a feverish bidding war between blue blood programs.

From The Wall Street Journal

The country’s top teams—blue bloods with well-resourced athletic departments and rich histories of March triumph—have never been better.

From The Wall Street Journal

Miami falls into an awkward middle ground that the blue bloods often avoid.

From The Wall Street Journal

It was Brown, a Rhode Island blue blood whose name now adorns an Ivy League university, who in 1790 financed Slater’s stolen ideas for a state-of-the-art cotton mill.

From Barron's

Long before Cignetti was laying waste to college football’s blue blood programs, his head coaching journey began in 2011 when he was hired by a once-proud Division II program called Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

From The Wall Street Journal