blue streak
Americannoun
-
something moving very fast.
They traveled like a blue streak through Italy.
-
continuous, rapid, or interminable speech.
to talk a blue streak.
Etymology
Origin of blue streak
An Americanism dating back to 1820–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Women everywhere have many reasons to curse a blue streak.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2024
That means swearing a blue streak, the way he does, or trying to out-do someone or impress them.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2022
“My customers come here and talk a blue streak, but they leave with beautiful hair,” a local hairdresser says to Selma.
From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2021
We know and love her as Old Christine; forgive us for being shocked to see her with a sexy blue streak in her hair.
From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2021
I had no idea how old it was, I never did, with babies—for all I knew it could talk a blue streak and had twenty teeth behind its pursed, pink lips.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
