blue law
noun
any puritanical law that forbids certain practices, especially drinking or working on Sunday, dancing, etc.
Origin of blue law
1An Americanism dating back to 1775–85
- Compare sumptuary law.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use blue law in a sentence
It is obviously impossible to pass a blue law compelling parents to conform to—what ideal?
Euthenics, the science of controllable environment | Ellen H. RichardsAfter all, are we so far removed from the blue-law regime of early New England?
The Menace of Prohibition | Lulu WightmanI tell you it's dead wrong to force this blue law upon the people.
Discourses of Keidansky | Bernard G. RichardsFor example, according to a Puritan blue law it was a criminal offense to smoke within ten miles of any habitation.
A favorite assertion was that I was enforcing a ‘blue law,’ an obsolete law that had never before been enforced.
Theodore Roosevelt | Edmund Lester Pearson
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