Showing results for "blues"

• present tense form of blue (3rd person singular).
• plural of blue.

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• blues
  blues

  noun

  the blues, depressed spirits; despondency; melancholy.
• Blues
  Blues

  plural noun

  the Royal Horse Guards

blues

¹ American  

[blooz] / bluz /

noun

1. (used with a plural verb) the blues, depressed spirits; despondency; melancholy.

   This rainy spell is giving me the blues.

2. (used with a singular verb)

   1. a song, originating with African Americans, that is marked by the frequent occurrence of blue notes, and that takes the basic form, customarily improvised upon in performance, of a 12-bar chorus consisting of a 3-line stanza with the second line repeating the first.

   2. the genre constituting such songs.

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blues ² American  

[blooz] / bluz /

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. any of various blue military uniforms worn by members of the U.S. armed services.

   dress blues.

2. a blue uniform for work; blue work clothes.

   a doctor in surgical blues.

3. Informal. police.

   The blues keep this neighborhood safe.

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Blues ¹ British  

/ bluːz /

plural noun

1. the Royal Horse Guards

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blues ² British  

/ bluːz /

plural noun

1. a feeling of depression or deep unhappiness

2. a type of folk song devised by Black Americans at the beginning of the 20th century, usually employing a basic 12-bar chorus, the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords, frequent minor intervals, and blue notes

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blues Cultural  

1. A kind of jazz that evolved from the music of African-Americans, especially work songs and spirituals (see also spirituals), in the early twentieth century. Blues pieces often express worry or depression.

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blues Idioms  

1. see have the blues.

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Other Word Forms

• bluesy
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of blues¹

First recorded in 1740–50; cf. blue (in the sense “depressed in spirits; dejected; melancholy”)

Origin of blues²

see origin at blue, -s ³

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Explanation

If you've got the blues, you probably want to lie in bed and cry — or get out your guitar and sadly sing the blues. Since the fourteenth century, the word blue has been used to mean "sad." The noun blues came into use in the 1700s to describe a state of sadness or melancholy. Around a hundred years later, a Black American musical genre adopted the word to describe its particular twelve-bar chord progression and folksy sound. Lyrics in blues music often describe hard times, struggles, and a particular kind of melancholy mood.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blues Blues

Alongside her husband, she went to try to find her son and was passed by two police cars "with blues and twos on".

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Acts can span from bluegrass to blues, folk to funk, salsa to soul, and everything in between.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

The right map above illustrates that shift, with lighter reds and blues showing much smaller rates of change during that decade.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

Some are born to sing the blues, as Perry once observed — just not Perry himself, who chews his way through this corny come-on like an overserved uncle at the Hard Rock Cafe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

The calico slipped out of its knot; I pushed back the layers of muslin and uncovered a rainbow of patches—ticking and shirt cloth, gingham and calico, in faded blues and greens and yellows.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison in 2020 for her role in the Varsity Blues academic fraud scandal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

From more than 35,000 predictions, the most popular scoreline was a 2-1 Blues win.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

The title could not be more fitting as the Sky Blues ended their 25-year wait for a top-flight goal and victory in front of their own fans.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

The Blues have had no problems scoring goals this campaign, with 15 goals from six matches, but no team has conceded more than their total of 13.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Modal melodies, revivalist spirituals, the call-and-response or ‘holler’ songs of African slaves: all of these went into the mixing pot of the early Blues.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

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