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Blue

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11 dictionary results for: Blue

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

blue

[bloo] Pronunciation Key noun, adjective, blu·er, blu·est, verb, blued, blu·ing or blue·ing.

–noun

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.

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,

the sky.

the sea.

c.	the remote distance: They've vanished into the blue somewhere.

–adjective

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.

–verb (used with object)

20.	to make blue; dye a blue color.

21.	to tinge with bluing: Don't blue your clothes till the second rinse.

–verb (used without object)

22.	to become or turn blue.

—Idioms

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.

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME blewe < AF blew, bl(i)u, bl(i)ef blue, livid, discolored, OF blo, blau (F bleu) < Gmc *blǣwaz; cf. OE blǣwen, contr. of blǣhǣwen deep blue, perse (see blae, hue), OFris blāw, MD blā(u), OHG blāo (G blau), ON blār

]

—Related forms

bluely, adverb

blueness, noun

—Synonyms 1. azure, cerulean, sapphire. 14. despondent, unhappy, morose, doleful, dispirited, sad, glum, downcast. 15. gloomy, dispiriting. 16. righteous, puritanical, moral, severe, prudish.

—Antonyms 14. happy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

blue (blōō) Pronunciation Key
n.

The hue of that portion of the visible spectrum lying between green and indigo, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 420 to 490 nanometers; any of a group of colors that may vary in lightness and saturation, whose hue is that of a clear daytime sky; one of the additive or light primaries; one of the psychological primary hues.
1. A pigment or dye imparting this hue.
2. Bluing.
3. An object having this hue.
4. Dress or clothing of this hue: The ushers wore blue.
5. A person who wears a blue uniform.
6. blues A dress blue uniform, especially that of the U.S. Army.
7. A member of the Union Army in the Civil War.
8. The Union Army.
9. The sky.
10. The sea.
1. An object having this hue.
2. Dress or clothing of this hue: The ushers wore blue.
3. A person who wears a blue uniform.
4. blues A dress blue uniform, especially that of the U.S. Army.
5. A member of the Union Army in the Civil War.
6. The Union Army.
7. The sky.
8. The sea.
1. A person who wears a blue uniform.
2. blues A dress blue uniform, especially that of the U.S. Army.
3. A member of the Union Army in the Civil War.
4. The Union Army.
5. The sky.
6. The sea.
often Blue
1. A member of the Union Army in the Civil War.
2. The Union Army.
3. The sky.
4. The sea.
A bluefish.
A small blue butterfly of the family Lycaenidae.
1. The sky.
2. The sea.

adj. blu·er, blu·est

Of the color blue.
Bluish or having parts that are blue or bluish, as the blue spruce and the blue whale.
Having a gray or purplish color, as from cold or contusion.
Wearing blue.
1. Gloomy; depressed. See Synonyms at depressed.
2. Dismal; dreary: a blue day.
Puritanical; strict.
Aristocratic; patrician.
Indecent; risqué: a blue joke; a blue movie.

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.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
blue

c.1300, bleu, blwe, etc., from O.Fr. bleu, from Frank. blao, from P.Gmc. *blæwaz, from PIE base *bhle-was "light-colored, blue, blond, yellow." "The exact color to which the Gmc. term applies varies in the older dialects; M.H.G. bla is also "yellow," whereas the Scandinavian words may refer esp. to a deep, swarthy black, e.g. O.N. blamaðr, N.Icel. blamaður 'Negro' " [Buck]. Replaced O.E. blaw, from the same PIE root, which also yielded L. flavus "yellow," O.Sp. blavo "yellowish-gray," Gk. phalos "white," Welsh blawr "gray," O.N. bla "livid" (the meaning in black and blue), showing the usual slippery definition of color words in I.E. The present spelling is since 16c., from Fr. influence. The color of constancy since Chaucer at least, but apparently for no deeper reason than the rhyme in true blue (1500). Blue (adj.) "lewd" is recorded from 1840; the sense connection is unclear, and is opposite to that in blue laws (q.v.). Blueprint is from 1886; the fig. sense of "detailed plan" is first attested 1926. For blue ribbon, see cordon bleu under cordon. Blue moon emblematic of "very rarely" suggests something that, in fact, never happens (cf. at the Greek calends), as in this couplet from 1528:

Yf they say the mone is blewe,
We must beleve that it is true.

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."

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

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

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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

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).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

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)].

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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

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

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Blue

Bl[ae]\, a. [See Blue.] Dark blue or bluish gray; lead-colored. [Scot.]

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Blue

Blau"bok\, n. [D. blauwbok.] (Zo["o]l.) The blue buck. See Blue buck, under Blue.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Blue

Blem"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blemished; p. pr. & vb. n. Blemishing.] [OE. blemissen, blemishen, OF. blemir, blesmir, to strike, injure, soil, F. bl[^e]mir to grow pale, fr. OF. bleme, blesme, pale, wan, F. bl[^e]me, prob. fr. Icel bl[=a]man the livid color of a wound, fr. bl[=a]r blue; akin to E. blue. OF. blemir properly signifies to beat one (black and) blue, and to render blue or dirty. See Blue.]

1. To mark with deformity; to injure or impair, as anything which is well formed, or excellent; to mar, or make defective, either the body or mind.

Sin is a soil which blemisheth the beauty of thy soul. --Brathwait.

2. To tarnish, as reputation or character; to defame.

There had nothing passed between us that might blemish reputation. --Oldys.

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Acronym Finder - Cite This Source - Share This

BLUE

BLUE: in Acronym Finder

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