blue in the face

1. Exhausted from anger, strain, or other great effort. For example, You can argue until you're blue in the face, but I refuse to go. This expression alludes to the bluish skin color resulting from lack of oxygen, which presumably might result from talking until one was breathless. See also under talk one's arm off.

Example Sentences

"We were asking for nationalisation to be considered until we were blue in the face," Fletcher, who also represents south-west Wales, told BBC Radio Wales Drive.

Read more on BBC

Ministers tell you until they're blue in the face that they will build more homes and solve the housing crisis.

Read more on BBC

Ms Graham said she had "tried everything" to lose weight, including the calorie-restricting 5:2 diet and reading nutrition books "until I'm blue in the face".

Read more on BBC

As the cloud reached the French trenches, men began to clutch their throats, coughing and choking, turning blue in the face.

Read more on Literature

I got blue in the face saying “This is not ‘Seven.’

Read more on Los Angeles Times