Bluebeard

[ bloo-beerd ]

/ ˈbluˌbɪərd /

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noun

a fairy-tale character whose seventh wife found the bodies of her predecessors in a room she had been forbidden to enter.

any man alleged to have murdered a number of his wives or other women.

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OTHER WORDS FROM Bluebeard

Bluebeardism, noun

Words nearby Bluebeard

blue-arsed fly, blue baby, blueback salmon, blue bag, bluebead, Bluebeard, bluebeat, bluebell, blue beret, blueberry, bluebill

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Bluebeard in a sentence

Her next book, a horror novel based on the Bluebeard legend, promises to do likewise.
Food Fetishes|Nick Antosca|July 24, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Bluebeard, you know, had a whole museum of them—as that imprudent little last wife of his found out to her cost.
A Selection from the Works of Frederick Locker|Frederick Locker
If dear old Bluebeard may be accepted as an ordinary result of this system, it must be confessed that it has its advantages.
Three in Norway|James Arthur Lees
The weather was so unpleasant, and Bluebeard and his aquavit were so engaging, that we decided not to leave here till to-morrow.
Three in Norway|James Arthur Lees

Had she seen the seven hanging heads of Bluebeard's decapitated wives, she would not have been more pained.
Hubert's Wife|Minnie Mary Lee
I shall have some disgusting moments of discomfort and remorse—and feel a moral Bluebeard—I shan't go scot free—.
Man and Maid|Elinor Glyn

British Dictionary definitions for Bluebeard

Bluebeard

/ (ˈbluːˌbɪəd) /

noun

a villain in European folk tales who marries several wives and murders them in turn. In many versions the seventh and last wife escapes the fate of the others

a man who has had several wives

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

Cultural definitions for Bluebeard

Bluebeard

A fairy tale character from the Charles Perrault collection. The character is a monstrous villain who marries seven women in turn and warns them not to look behind a certain door of his castle. Inside the room are the corpses of his former wives. Bluebeard kills six wives for their disobedience before one passes his test.