Nearby Words
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.
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.
EXPAND(often initial capital letter) a member of the Union army in the American Civil War or the army itself. Compare gray (def. 13).
7.
blue ribbon (def. 1).
8.
any of several blue-winged butterflies of the family Lycaenidae.
9.
Printing. blueline.
10.
COLLAPSEthe 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.
EXPANDholding or offering little hope; dismal; bleak: a blue outlook.
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Blue in the face
is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
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)
Idioms22.
to become or turn blue.
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; Middle English blewe < Anglo-French blew, bl(i)u, bl(i)ef blue, livid, discolored, Old French blo, blau (French bleu) < Germanic *blǣwaz; compare Old English blǣwen, contraction of blǣhǣwen deep blue, perse (see blae, hue), Old Frisian blāw, Middle Dutch blā(u), Old High German blāo (German blau), Old Norse blār
1250–1300; Middle English blewe < Anglo-French blew, bl(i)u, bl(i)ef blue, livid, discolored, Old French blo, blau (French bleu) < Germanic *blǣwaz; compare Old English blǣwen, contraction of blǣhǣwen deep blue, perse (see blae, hue), Old Frisian blāw, Middle Dutch blā(u), Old High German blāo (German blau), Old Norse blār
Related forms
blue·ly, adverb
blue·ness, noun
half-blue, adjective
un·blued, adjective
Synonyms
1. azure, cerulean, sapphire. 14. despondent, unhappy, morose, doleful, dispirited, sad, glum, downcast. 15. gloomy, dispiriting. 16. righteous, puritanical, moral, severe, prudish.
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.
14. happy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To blue in the face
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
blue
"lewd, indecent" recorded from 1840 (in form blueness, in an essay of Carlyle's); the sense connection is unclear, and is opposite to that in blue laws (q.v.). John Mactaggart's "Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia" (1824) containing odd words he had learned while growing
EXPANDup in Galloway and elsewhere in Scotland, has an entry for Thread o'Blue, "any little smutty touch in song-singing, chatting, or piece of writing." Farmer ["Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present," 1890] offers the theory that this meaning derives from the blue dress uniforms issued to harlots in houses of correction, but he writes that the earlier slang authority John Camden Hotten "suggests it as coming from the French Bibliothèque Bleu, a series of books of very questionable character," and adds, from Hotten, that, "Books or conversation of an entirely opposite nature are said to be Brown or Quakerish, i.e., serious, grave, decent."
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
blue definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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blue in the face definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
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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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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