10 results for: Blues

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

blues1

–noun

1.	the blues, (used with a plural verb) depressed spirits; despondency; melancholy: This rainy spell is giving me the blues.

(used with a singular verb

) Jazz.

a.	a song, originating with American blacks, 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.

b.	the genre constituting such songs.

[Origin: 1800–10, Americanism; cf. blue devils

]

—Related forms

bluesy, adjective

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

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Blues

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

blues2

Audio Help [blooz] Pronunciation Key

–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.

[Origin: see blue, -s³

]

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

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

blue Audio Help (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.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

blues Audio Help (blōōz) Pronunciation Key
pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

A state of depression or melancholy. Often used with the.
A style of music that evolved from southern African-American secular songs and is usually distinguished by a strong 4/4 rhythm, flatted thirds and sevenths, a 12-bar structure, and lyrics in a three-line stanza in which the second line repeats the first: "The blues is an expression of anger against shame and humiliation" (B.B. King).

[Short for blue devils.]

blues'man n., blues'y adj.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
blues

as a music form featuring flatted thirds and sevenths, possibly c.1895 (though officially 1912, in W.C. Handy's "Memphis Blues"); meaning "depression, low spirits" goes back to 1741, from adj. blue "low-spirited," c.1385.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

blues
noun
1.	a type of folksong that originated among Black Americans at the beginning of the 20th century; has a melancholy sound from repeated use of blue notes
2.	a state of depression; "he had a bad case of the blues"

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

blues

see have the blues.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
blues

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

[Chapter:] Fine Arts

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: blues
Pronunciation: 'blüz
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
: low spirits : MELANCHOLY —blue /'blü/ adjective

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