blue murder

British

noun

informal a great outcry, noise; horrible din (esp in such phrases as cry, howl, scream, etc, blue murder )

"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

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.

Idiocies abound: Characters scream blue murder, apparently unheard by family members in the same house; a creature that feeds on darkness is battled by burning dozens of miniature candles instead of, say, shining a flashlight.

From New York Times • Jun. 1, 2023

Mr Dinwiddie said: "We felt such relief. He has got away with blue murder since. No-one tells him off anymore."

From BBC • May 13, 2020

If I'd known then that it was only ever going to be a moment in time, I'd have screamed blue murder.

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2016

With dial-a-quote scientists howling blue murder, any who might have looked at previous spills and thought it might not be so bad would have been unpatriotic disaster-deniers.

From The Guardian • Aug. 17, 2010

“I’ve teached the chap purty nigh all he knaws an’ I ban’t gwaine to turn on un now, onless ’t is proved blue murder.

From Children of the Mist by Phillpotts, Eden

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023