code blue

American  

noun

1. (often initial capital letters) a medical emergency in which paramedics are dispatched to aid a person undergoing cardiac arrest.

---

Etymology

Origin of code blue

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

I was the slowest doctor in the herd of physicians responding to code blue alerts for medical emergencies at the hospital.

From Scientific American • Feb. 19, 2023

Suddenly, a piercing code blue alarm sounded in the emergency room.

From Salon • Sep. 7, 2022

The nurse called a code blue, a life-threatening emergency.

From Seattle Times • May 23, 2021

“You run,” said Dr. Sanchez, 31, a first-year resident at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn, “to wherever the location is, because code blue means the patient is going into cardiac arrest.”

From New York Times • Oct. 9, 2014

“Code blue, code blue in Trauma,” blares the PA.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman