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Idioms about blue

    blue in the face, exhausted and speechless, as from excessive anger, physical strain, etc.: I reminded him about it till I was blue in the face.
    out of the blue, suddenly and unexpectedly: The inheritance came out of the blue as a stroke of good fortune.

Origin of blue

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English blewe, from Anglo-French blew, bl(i)u, bl(i)ef “blue, livid, discolored,” Old French blo, blau (French bleu ), from unattested Germanic blǣwaz; compare Old English blǣwen, contraction of blǣhǣwen “deep blue, perse,” Old Frisian blāw, Middle Dutch blā(u), Old High German blāo (German blau ), Old Norse blār

OTHER WORDS FROM blue

blue·ly, adverbblue·ness, nounhalf-blue, adjectiveun·blued, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH blue

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

How to use blue in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for blue (1 of 2)

blue
/ (bluː) /

noun
adjective bluer or bluest
verb blues, blueing, bluing or blued
See also blues

Derived forms of blue

bluely, adverbblueness, noun

Word Origin for blue

C13: from Old French bleu, of Germanic origin; compare Old Norse blār, Old High German blāo, Middle Dutch blā; related to Latin flāvus yellow

British Dictionary definitions for blue (2 of 2)

Blue

Bluey

/ (bluː) /

noun
Australian informal a nickname for a person with red hair
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

Other Idioms and Phrases with blue

blue

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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