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blues

 - 13 dictionary results
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blues

1  [blooz]
Use blues in a Sentence
–noun
1. the blues, (used with a plural verb) depressed spirits; despondency; melancholy: This rainy spell is giving me the blues.
2. (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
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blues

2  [blooz]
–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, -s 3

blue

  [bloo] noun, adjective, blu⋅er, blu⋅est, verb, blued, blu⋅ing or blue⋅ing.
–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.

blue⋅line

  [bloo-lahyn]
–noun Printing.
a print made on light-sensitive paper and used as a proof for checking the position of stripped-up negatives or positives and copy prior to platemaking.
Also, blue.

Origin:
blue + line 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To blues
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.
blues   (blōōz)   
pl.n.   (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

  1. A state of depression or melancholy. Often used with the.

  2. 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.
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
Cultural Dictionary

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.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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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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."

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.
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

Main Entry: blues
Pronunciation: 'blüz
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
: low spirits : MELANCHOLY —blue /'blü/ adjective
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Idioms & Phrases

blues

see have the blues.

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