Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web

blue flu

 - 4 dictionary results

blue flu

–noun
absenteeism among police officers or firefighters who claim to be ill but are in fact absent to support union contract demands or negotiations: so called from the officers' blue uniforms.

Origin:
1965–70
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To blue flu
blue flu  
n.  A sickout, especially by uniformed police officers.

[From the blue color of most police officers' uniforms.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
blue flu

  1. n.
    an imaginary disease afflicting police officers who call in sick during a work stoppage or slowdown. (Journalistic. Occurs where strikes are illegal.) : Another epidemic of the blue flu struck the city's police officers early today.
  2. n.
    a hangover. : He was out late last night and has the blue flu.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: blue flu
Function: noun
: an organized absence from work by police officers on the pretext of sickness that is staged for the purpose of protest
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see blue flu on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us: