

[bloo] Pronunciation Key noun, adjective, blu·er, blu·est, verb, blued, blu·ing or blue·ing. | 1. | the pure color of a clear sky; the primary color between green and violet in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 450 and 500 nm. |
| 2. | bluing. |
| 3. | something having a blue color: Place the blue next to the red. |
| 4. | a person who wears blue or is a member of a group characterized by some blue symbol: Tomorrow the blues will play the browns. |
| 5. | (often initial capital letter ) a member of the Union army in the American Civil War or the army itself. Compare gray (def. 13). |
| 6. | bluestocking. |
| 7. | blue ribbon (def. 1). |
| 8. | any of several blue-winged butterflies of the family Lycaenidae. |
| 9. | Printing. blueline. |
| 10. | the blue,
|
| 11. | of the color of blue: a blue tie. |
| 12. | (initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to the Union army in the American Civil War. |
| 13. | (of the skin) discolored by cold, contusion, fear, or vascular collapse. |
| 14. | depressed in spirits; dejected; melancholy: She felt blue about not being chosen for the team. |
| 15. | holding or offering little hope; dismal; bleak: a blue outlook. |
| 16. | characterized by or stemming from rigid morals or religion: statutes that were blue and unrealistic. |
| 17. | marked by blasphemy: The air was blue with oaths. |
| 18. | (of an animal's pelage) grayish-blue. |
| 19. | indecent; somewhat obscene; risqué: a blue joke or film. |
| 20. | to make blue; dye a blue color. |
| 21. | to tinge with bluing: Don't blue your clothes till the second rinse. |
| 22. | to become or turn blue. |
| 23. | 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. |
| 24. | out of the blue, suddenly and unexpectedly: The inheritance came out of the blue as a stroke of good fortune. |
] —Related forms
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
| blue
(blōō) Pronunciation Key
n.
adj. blu·er, blu·est
tr. & intr.v. blued, blu·ing, blues To make or become blue. [Middle English blue, bleu, from Old French bleu, of Germanic origin; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.] blue'ly adv., blue'ness n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
blue
Yf they say the mone is blewe,Many IE languages seem to have had a word to describe the color of the sea, encompasing blue and green and gray; e.g. Ir. glass (see Chloe), O.E. hæwen "blue, gray," related to har (see hoar), Serbo-Cr. sinji "gray-blue, sea-green," Lith. šyvas, Rus. sivyj "gray."
We must beleve that it is true.
| blue | |
adjective | |
| 1. | of the color intermediate between green and violet; having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky; "October's bright blue weather"- Helen Hunt Jackson; "a blue flame"; "blue haze of tobacco smoke" |
| 2. | used to signify the Union forces in the American Civil War (who wore blue uniforms); "a ragged blue line" |
| 3. | filled with melancholy and despondency ; "gloomy at the thought of what he had to face"; "gloomy predictions"; "a gloomy silence"; "took a grim view of the economy"; "the darkening mood"; "lonely and blue in a strange city"; "depressed by the loss of his job"; "a dispirited and resigned expression on her face"; "downcast after his defeat"; "feeling discouraged and downhearted" |
| 4. | characterized by profanity or cursing; "foul-mouthed and blasphemous"; "blue language"; "profane words" [syn: blasphemous] |
| 5. | suggestive of sexual impropriety; "a blue movie"; "blue jokes"; "he skips asterisks and gives you the gamy details"; "a juicy scandal"; "a naughty wink"; "naughty words"; "racy anecdotes"; "a risque story"; "spicy gossip" |
| 6. | belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy; "an aristocratic family"; "aristocratic Bostonians"; "aristocratic government"; "a blue family"; "blue blood"; "the blue-blooded aristocracy"; "of gentle blood"; "patrician landholders of the American South"; "aristocratic bearing"; "aristocratic features"; "patrician tastes" [syn: aristocratic] |
| 7. | morally rigorous and strict; "the puritan work ethic"; "puritanic distaste for alcohol"; "she was anything but puritanical in her behavior" |
| 8. | causing dejection; "a blue day"; "the dark days of the war"; "a week of rainy depressing weather"; "a disconsolate winter landscape"; "the first dismal dispiriting days of November"; "a dark gloomy day"; "grim rainy weather" |
noun | |
| 1. | blue color or pigment; resembling the color of the clear sky in the daytime; "he had eyes of bright blue" |
| 2. | blue clothing; "she was wearing blue" |
| 3. | any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are blue; "the Union army was a vast blue" |
| 4. | the sky as viewed during daylight; "he shot an arrow into the blue" [syn: blue sky] |
| 5. | used to whiten laundry or hair or give it a bluish tinge [syn: bluing] |
| 6. | the sodium salt of amobarbital that is used as a barbiturate; used as a sedative and a hypnotic [syn: amobarbital sodium] |
| 7. | any of numerous small butterflies of the family Lycaenidae |
verb | |
| 1. | turn blue |
blue
In addition to the idioms beginning with blue, also see between a rock and a hard place (devil and deep blue sea); black and blue; bolt from the blue; have the blues; into thin air (the blue); like greased lightning (a blue streak); once in a blue moon; out of a clear blue sky; talk one's arm off (a blue streak; until blue in the face).
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Blue
A language proposed by Softech to meet the DoD Ironman requirements which led to Ada. ["On the BLUE Language Submitted to the DoD", E.W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices 13(10):10-15 (Oct 1978)].
Blue Springs, NE (city, FIPS 5630) Location: 40.13698 N, 96.66259 W
Population (1990): 431 (203 housing units)
Area: 2.0 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 68318
Blue Mound, KS (city, FIPS 7600) Location: 38.08920 N, 95.00943 W
Population (1990): 251 (153 housing units)
Area: 1.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 66010
Blue Mounds, WI (village, FIPS 8475) Location: 43.02072 N, 89.82618 W
Population (1990): 446 (176 housing units)
Area: 2.0 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 53517
Blue Rapids, KS (city, FIPS 7650) Location: 39.67852 N, 96.65971 W
Population (1990): 1131 (520 housing units)
Area: 5.3 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 66411
Blue Mountain, AR (town, FIPS 7210) Location: 35.13171 N, 93.71531 W
Population (1990): 146 (62 housing units)
Area: 2.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 72826
Blue Mountain, MS (town, FIPS 7060) Location: 34.67104 N, 89.02716 W
Population (1990): 667 (255 housing units)
Area: 2.9 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 38610
Blue Point, NY (CDP, FIPS 7069) Location: 40.75028 N, 73.03503 W
Population (1990): 4230 (1548 housing units)
Area: 4.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 11715
Blue Ridge, GA (city, FIPS 8928) Location: 34.86408 N, 84.32701 W
Population (1990): 1336 (645 housing units)
Area: 5.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 30513
Blue Ridge, TX (town, FIPS 8872) Location: 33.29837 N, 96.39994 W
Population (1990): 521 (234 housing units)
Area: 1.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 75424
Blue Ridge, VA (CDP, FIPS 8200) Location: 37.38347 N, 79.82015 W
Population (1990): 2840 (1017 housing units)
Area: 16.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 24064
Blue River, KY Zip code(s): 41607
Blue River, WI (village, FIPS 8525) Location: 43.18619 N, 90.57245 W
Population (1990): 438 (183 housing units)
Area: 1.9 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 53518
Blue Springs, MO (city, FIPS 6652) Location: 39.02200 N, 94.27365 W
Population (1990): 40153 (14246 housing units)
Area: 41.7 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 64014
Blue Springs, MS (village, FIPS 7100) Location: 34.40288 N, 88.87283 W
Population (1990): 140 (64 housing units)
Area: 2.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 38828
Blue Mound, IL (village, FIPS 6756) Location: 39.70067 N, 89.11888 W
Population (1990): 1161 (461 housing units)
Area: 1.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 62513
Blue Lake, CA (city, FIPS 7162) Location: 40.88024 N, 123.99159 W
Population (1990): 1235 (540 housing units)
Area: 1.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 95525
Blue Island, IL (city, FIPS 6704) Location: 41.65840 N, 87.68142 W
Population (1990): 21203 (8600 housing units)
Area: 10.5 sq km (land), 0.2 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 60406
Blue Rock, OH Zip code(s): 43720
Blue Diamond, KY Zip code(s): 41719
Blue Grass, IA (city, FIPS 7075) Location: 41.50858 N, 90.76365 W
Population (1990): 1214 (421 housing units)
Area: 6.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 52726
Blue Grass, VA Zip code(s): 24413
Blue Creek, OH Zip code(s): 45616
Blue Hill, ME Zip code(s): 04614
Blue Hill, NE (city, FIPS 5560) Location: 40.33303 N, 98.44764 W
Population (1990): 810 (365 housing units)
Area: 1.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 68930
Blue Earth, MN (city, FIPS 6688) Location: 43.63909 N, 94.09982 W
Population (1990): 3745 (1644 housing units)
Area: 8.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 56013
Blue Eye, MO (town, FIPS 6526) Location: 36.49986 N, 93.39641 W
Population (1990): 112 (56 housing units)
Area: 1.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 65611
Blue Springs, AL (town, FIPS 7672) Location: 31.66050 N, 85.50309 W
Population (1990): 108 (52 housing units)
Area: 7.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Blue Ash, OH (city, FIPS 7300) Location: 39.24672 N, 84.38077 W
Population (1990): 11860 (4719 housing units)
Area: 19.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Blue Bell, PA (CDP, FIPS 7224) Location: 40.14573 N, 75.26766 W
Population (1990): 6091 (2371 housing units)
Area: 13.9 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Blue River, CO (town, FIPS 7410) Location: 39.43254 N, 106.03658 W
Population (1990): 440 (428 housing units)
Area: 5.7 sq km (land), 0.3 sq km (water)
Blue Eye, AR (town, FIPS 7150) Location: 36.49597 N, 93.39692 W
Population (1990): 38 (18 housing units)
Area: 0.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Blue Ridge, AL (CDP, FIPS 7588) Location: 32.49248 N, 86.19062 W
Population (1990): 1151 (439 housing units)
Area: 20.4 sq km (land), 0.2 sq km (water)
Blue Hills, CT (CDP, FIPS 6050) Location: 41.81290 N, 72.69816 W
Population (1990): 3206 (1046 housing units)
Area: 3.0 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Blue Mound, TX (city, FIPS 8860) Location: 32.85376 N, 97.33722 W
Population (1990): 2133 (706 housing units)
Area: 1.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Blue Mountain, AL (town, FIPS 7552) Location: 33.68852 N, 85.83761 W
Population (1990): 221 (120 housing units)
Area: 0.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Blue Hill Falls, ME Zip code(s): 04615
Blue Mountain La, NY Zip code(s): 12812
Blue Ridge Summi, PA Zip code(s): 17214
Blue Ridge Manor, KY (city, FIPS 7858) Location: 38.24487 N, 85.56418 W
Population (1990): 565 (278 housing units)
Area: 0.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Blue Earth County, MN (county, FIPS 13) Location: 44.03280 N, 94.06363 W
Population (1990): 54044 (20358 housing units)
Area: 1948.7 sq km (land), 35.1 sq km (water)
Blue, AZ Zip code(s): 85922
Blue
Blue\, a. [Compar. Bluer; superl. Bluest.] [OE. bla, blo, blew, blue, Sw. bl?, D. blauw, OHG. bl?o, G. blau; but influenced in form by F. bleu, from OHG. bl[=a]o.]1. Having the color of the clear sky, or a hue resembling it, whether lighter or darker; as, the deep, blue sea; as blue as a sapphire; blue violets. "The blue firmament." --Milton. 2. Pale, without redness or glare, -- said of a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths. 3. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue. 4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [Colloq.] 5. Severe or over strict in morals; gloom; as, blue and sour religionists; suiting one who is over strict in morals; inculcating an impracticable, severe, or gloomy mortality; as, blue laws. 6. Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of bluestocking. [Colloq.] The ladies were very blue and well informed. --Thackeray. Blue asbestus. See Crocidolite. Blue black, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black. Blue blood. See under Blood. Blue buck (Zo["o]l.), a small South African antelope (Cephalophus pygm[ae]us); also applied to a larger species ([AE]goceras leucoph[ae]us); the blaubok. Blue cod (Zo["o]l.), the buffalo cod. Blue crab (Zo["o]l.), the common edible crab of the Atlantic coast of the United States (Callinectes hastatus). Blue curls (Bot.), a common plant (Trichostema dichotomum), resembling pennyroyal, and hence called also bastard pennyroyal. Blue devils, apparitions supposed to be seen by persons suffering with delirium tremens; hence, very low spirits. "Can Gumbo shut the hall door upon blue devils, or lay them all in a red sea of claret?" --Thackeray. Blue gage. See under Gage, a plum. Blue gum, an Australian myrtaceous tree (Eucalyptus globulus), of the loftiest proportions, now cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions for its timber, and as a protection against malaria. The essential oil is beginning to be used in medicine. The timber is very useful. See Eucalyptus. Blue jack, Blue stone, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper. Blue jacket, a man-of war's man; a sailor wearing a naval uniform. Blue jaundice. See under Jaundice. Blue laws, a name first used in the eighteenth century to describe certain supposititious laws of extreme rigor reported to have been enacted in New Haven; hence, any puritanical laws. [U. S.] Blue light, a composition which burns with a brilliant blue flame; -- used in pyrotechnics and as a night signal at sea, and in military operations. Blue mantle (Her.), one of the four pursuivants of the English college of arms; -- so called from the color of his official robes. Blue mass, a preparation of mercury from which is formed the blue pill. --McElrath. Blue mold, or mould, the blue fungus (Aspergillus glaucus) which grows on cheese. --Brande & C. Blue Monday, a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). Blue ointment (Med.), mercurial ointment. Blue Peter (British Marine), a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to recall boats, etc. It is a corruption of blue repeater, one of the British signal flags. Blue pill. (Med.) (a) A pill of prepared mercury, used as an aperient, etc. (b) Blue mass. Blue ribbon. (a) The ribbon worn by members of the order of the Garter; -- hence, a member of that order. (b) Anything the attainment of which is an object of great ambition; a distinction; a prize. "These [scholarships] were the --blue ribbon of the college." --Farrar. (c) The distinctive badge of certain temperance or total abstinence organizations, as of the --Blue ribbon Army. Blue ruin, utter ruin; also, gin. [Eng. Slang] --Carlyle. Blue spar (Min.), azure spar; lazulite. See Lazulite. Blue thrush (Zo["o]l.), a European and Asiatic thrush (Petrocossyphus cyaneas). Blue verditer. See Verditer. Blue vitriol (Chem.), sulphate of copper, a violet blue crystallized salt, used in electric batteries, calico printing, etc. Blue water, the open ocean. To look blue, to look disheartened or dejected. True blue, genuine and thorough; not modified, nor mixed; not spurious; specifically, of uncompromising Presbyterianism, blue being the color adopted by the Covenanters. For his religion . . . 'T was Presbyterian, true blue. --Hudibras.Blue
Blue\ (bl[=u]), n. 1. One of the seven colors into which the rays of light divide themselves, when refracted through a glass prism; the color of the clear sky, or a color resembling that, whether lighter or darker; a pigment having such color. Sometimes, poetically, the sky. 2. A pedantic woman; a bluestocking. [Colloq.] 3. pl. [Short for blue devils.] Low spirits; a fit of despondency; melancholy. [Colloq.] Berlin blue, Prussian blue. Mineral blue. See under Mineral. Prussian blue. See under Prussian.Blue
Blue\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blued; p. pr. & vb. n. Bluing.] To make blue; to dye of a blue color; to make blue by heating, as metals, etc.Blue
generally associated with purple (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36, etc.). It is supposed to have been obtained from a shellfish of the Mediterranean, the Helix ianthina of Linnaeus. The robe of the high priest's ephod was to be all of this colour (Ex. 28:31), also the loops of the curtains (26:4) and the ribbon of the breastplate (28:28). Blue cloths were also made for various sacred purposes (Num. 4:6, 7, 9, 11, 12). (See COLOUR.)
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