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blue in the face

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Blue In The Face
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blue

  [bloo] noun, adjective, blu⋅er, blu⋅est, verb, blued, blu⋅ing or blue⋅ing.
Use blue in the face in a Sentence
–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.
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,
a. the sky.
b. 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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Blue In The Face
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blue   (blōō)   
n.  

  1. 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.

  5. often Blue

    1. A member of the Union Army in the Civil War.

    2. The Union Army.

    3. The sky.

    4. The sea.

  6. A bluefish.

  7. A small blue butterfly of the family Lycaenidae.

    1. The sky.

    2. The sea.

adj.   blu·er, blu·est

  1. Of the color blue.

  2. Bluish or having parts that are blue or bluish, as the blue spruce and the blue whale.

  3. Having a gray or purplish color, as from cold or contusion.

  4. Wearing blue.

    1. Gloomy; depressed. See Synonyms at depressed.

    2. Dismal; dreary: a blue day.

  6. Puritanical; strict.

  7. Aristocratic; patrician.

  8. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
blue

  1. mod.
    depressed; melancholy. : That music always makes me blue.
  2. mod.
    obscene; vulgar; dirty. : Those blue jokes don't go over very well around here.
  3. n.
    the sky; the heavens. : The idea came to me right out of the blue.
  4. mod.
    alcohol intoxicated. : You might say I'm blue. Others might note that I am stoned.
  5. n.
    an amphetamine tablet or capsule, especially a blue one. (Drugs.) : How are blues different from reds and yellows?
  6. n.
    a police officer; the police. : The blues will be here in a minute.
  7. n.
    a 10-mg tablet of Valium. (Drugs.) : In treatment they kept giving me blues to calm me down. Now I can't live without them.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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blue in the face

  1. mod.
    pale from exhaustion or exertion. : I laughed until I was blue in the face.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

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."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2blue
Function: noun
1 : a color whose hue is that of the clear sky or that of the portion of the color spectrum lying between green andviolet
2 : a pigment or dye that colors blue —see PRUSSIAN BLUE
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Idioms & Phrases

blue in the face

Exhausted from anger, strain, or other great effort. For example, You can argue until you're blue in the face, but I refuse to go. This expression alludes to the bluish skin color resulting from lack of oxygen, which presumably might result from talking until one was breathless. See also under talk one's arm off.

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