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true blue

 - 3 dictionary results

true blue

–noun
1. a nonfading blue dye or pigment.
2. a person who is true-blue.
3. (in the 17th century) the color adopted by the Covenanters in contradistinction to the royal red.

Origin:
1665–75

true-blue

[troo-bloo]
–adjective
unwaveringly loyal or faithful; staunch; unchangingly true.

Origin:
1665–75
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Idioms & Phrases

true blue

Loyal, faithful, as in You can count on her support; she's true blue. This expression alludes to the idea of blue being the color of constancy, but the exact allusion is disputed. One theory holds it alludes to the unchanging blue sky, another to the fastness of a blue dye that will not run. Blue has been the identifying color of various factions in history. In the mid-1600s the Scottish Covenanters, who pledged to uphold Presbyterianism, were called true blue (as opposed to red, the color of the royalists). In the 1800s the same term came to mean "staunchly Tory," and in America, "politically sound."

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