have the blues

Idioms  

1. Also, feel blue. Feel depressed or sad, as in After seeing the old house in such bad shape, I had the blues for weeks, or Patricia tends to feel blue around the holidays. The noun blues, meaning “low spirits,” was first recorded in 1741 and may come from blue devil, a 17th-century term for a baleful demon, or from the adjective blue meaning “sad,” a usage first recorded in Chaucer's Complaint of Mars (c. 1385). The idiom may have been reinforced by the notion that anxiety produces a livid skin color. Also see blue funk.

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Example Sentences

There’s an old idea about how someone doesn’t play the blues, they have the blues, and through that possession, the music arises.

From New York Times • May 26, 2021

To have the blues is not necessarily about being sad.

From New York Times • May 26, 2021

“Whenever I have the blues, I put on a tape of the Kentucky Derby and I feel much better.”

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 29, 2016

"It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues."

From Chicago Tribune • Jan. 18, 2014

Your friends laugh at you and say you have "the blues," or "the high strikes," or "the dumps," or "the fidgets."

From Around The Tea-Table by Talmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)