bluebottle

[ bloo-bot-l ]

/ ˈbluˌbɒt l /

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noun

cornflower (def. 1).

a composite plant, Centaurea cyanus, having narrow leaves and blue flower heads.

bluebottle fly.

Australian. Portuguese man-of-war.

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navy

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azure

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Origin of bluebottle

First recorded in 1545–55; blue + bottle¹

Words nearby bluebottle

blue-black, blue blood, blueblossom, bluebonnet, blue book, bluebottle, bluebottle fly, blue box, blue buck, bluebush, blue cataract

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use bluebottle in a sentence

Yet, although he could take no exercise, he used to eat no less than seventy large bluebottle flies every evening.
The Animal World, A Book of Natural History|Theodore Wood
Paying not the least attention to the big bluebottle fly that buzzed her nose, Sue stretched full-length and dozed in the sun.
The Duck-footed Hound|James Arthur Kjelgaard
The bluebottle fly, tiring of its futile efforts to annoy her, buzzed importantly off in search of a more responsive victim.
The Duck-footed Hound|James Arthur Kjelgaard
From time to time, the bluebottle and the flesh fly perch on the trellis-work, make a short investigation and then decamp.
The Life of the Fly|J. Henri Fabre

I put the bluebottle's eggs to hatch on a piece of meat and leave the worms to do their work as they please.
The Life of the Fly|J. Henri Fabre

British Dictionary definitions for bluebottle

bluebottle

/ (ˈbluːˌbɒtəl) /

noun

another name for the blowfly

any of various blue-flowered plants, esp the cornflower

British an informal word for a policeman

Australian and NZ an informal name for Portuguese man-of-war

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