▪ I. blue, a.
(bluː, bljuː)
Forms: 3 bleu, 3–8 blew, 4 blu(e, bluw(e, 4–5 blwe, 4–6 blewe, 7– blue.
[ME. blew, a. OF. bleu, a Common Romanic word (= Pr. blau, blava, OSp. blavo, It. dial. biavo, med.L. blāvus), ad. OHG. or OLG. blâw-:—OTeut. blæ̂wo-z blue, whence also ON. blá-, likewise adopted in ME. as bla, blo, now blae. The corresponding OE. form bláw (or *blǽw) is known only in Erfurt Gloss. 1152, ‘blata, pigmentum: haui-blauum’, and the derivative blǽwen (:—blâwîno-) ‘perseus’. But neither of these survived into ME., where their place was supplied by the adoption of ON. blá, in sense of ‘lividus’, and of F. bleu in sense of ‘cæruleus’. The OTeut. blæ̂wo- was perh. cognate with L. flāvus yellow (though blôwo-z would be the expected Teutonic form), the names of colours having often undergone change in their application; thus OSp. blavo was ‘yellowish-grey’. (The guess that blæ̂wo- was derived from the stem *bliuwan, Goth. bliggwan to beat, as ‘the colour caused by a blow’ is not tenable.) The present spelling blue is very rare in ME., and hardly known in 16–17th c.; it became common under French influence only after 1700. In pronunciation, nearly all the dictionaries c 1887 still recognized (bljuː), but the more easily pronounced (bluː) was already general in educated speech.]
I. Properly.
1. a. The name of one of the colours of the spectrum; of the colour of the sky and the deep sea; cerulean.
| a 1300 [see blue n. 1]. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 423 Art þou þe quene of heuenez blwe. 1366 Test. Ebor. (1836) I. 81 Unam robam blue. 1394 Ibid. I. 198 Un drape de blew saye. 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxvi. 14 Another couertour of blew skynnes. c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 636 And by hire beddes heed she made a mewe, And couered it with veluettes blewe [v.r. blue, bluwe]. 1486 Bk. St. Albans A ij b, It hade need to be died other green or blwe. 1570 Levins Manip. 94 Blewe, ceruleus. 1596 Spenser Astroph. 185 The gods..Transformed them..Into one flowre that is both red and blew. 1669 Boyle Contn. New Exp. i. xliv. (1682) 153 Between blew and green. 1718 Pope Iliad xv. 195 And to blue Neptune thus the goddess calls. 1797 Coleridge Christabel i. Concl., The blue sky bends over all. 1855 Dickens Dorrit i, A sea too intensely blue to be looked at. 1884 W. Sharp Earth's Voices, etc. 142 Bluer than bluest summer air. |
b. Said of the colour of smoke, vapour, distant hills, steel, thin milk.
Magnetism, defining the south pole of a magnet (of a steel-blue colour) as distinguished from the north (red) pole; also, the magnetism of this pole.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 277 The skyish head Of blew Olympus. 1728 Pope Dunciad iii. 3 Him close she curtain'd round with vapours blue. 1809 J. Barlow Columb. vii. 400 His blue blade waved forward. 1831 Lytton Godolph. xxxiv, That chain of hills..stretched behind..their blue and dim summits melting into the skies. a 1859 De Quincey Wks. (1863) II. 14 Skimmed or blue milk being only one half-penny a quart—in Grasmere. 1860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xi. 107 Sails of ships in the blue distance. 1893 Sloane Electr. Dict. 345 A two-fluid theory of magnetism has been evolved... It assumes a north fluid or ‘red magnetism’ and a south fluid or ‘blue magnetism’. |
c. Said of a pale flame or flash without red glare (as of lightning, etc.);
e.g. in
phr. to burn blue, which a candle is said to do as an omen of death, or as indicating the presence of ghosts or of the Devil (
perh. referring to the blue flame of brimstone: see De Foe,
Hist. Devil ch. x.).
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 180 The Lights burne blew! It is now dead midnight. 1601 ― Jul. C. i. iii. 50 The crosse blew Lightning. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burn. Pestle, Ribands black and candles blue For him that was of men most true. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Serm. Hosea i. 54 In a mine, if a damp come, it is in vaine to trust to your lights, they will burn blew, and dimme, and at last vanish. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil x, That most wise and solid suggestion, that when the candles burn blue the Devil is in the room. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. xxvi, His taper Burnt, and not blue, as modest tapers use..Receiving sprites. |
d. Said of the veins as they show through the skin.
Cf. blue blood (see
blood 8).
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. v. 29 There is Gold, and heere My blewest vaines to kisse: a hand that Kings haue lipt. 1845 Browning Bishop orders Tomb, Some lump..of lapis lazuli..Blue as a vein o'er the Madonna's breast. 1885 Mrs. Oliphant Madam II. xxvi. 50 Blue veins showing distinctly through the delicate tissue of his skin. |
e. Often taken as the colour of constancy or unchangingness (? with regard to the blue of the sky, or to some specially fast dye). Hence
true blue (
fig.): faithful, staunch and unwavering (in one's faith, principles, etc.): sterling, genuine, real. See also 6 b.
| a 1500 Balade agst. Women Unconst. in Stow Chaucer (1561) 340 To newe thinges your lust is euer kene. In stede of blew, thus may ye were al grene. 1672 Walker Parœm. 30 in Hazl. Eng. Prov., True blue will never stain. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 171 It being true blew Gotham or Hobbes ingrain'd, one of the two. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Craft ii. viii. 86 The Old Beau is True-Blew, to the Highflown Principles [of] King Edward's First Protestant Church. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. i. s.v. Blue. |
f. The particular shade is expressed by words prefixed, as
clear,
dark,
deep,
intense,
light;
azure,
indigo,
lavender,
plum,
sky,
slate,
ultramarine,
violet; also by arbitrary words, as
Prussian,
Berlin,
royal,
navy. See also
blue n. 2,
grey-blue,
powder-blue 2,
smalt-blue (
smalt n. 4),
stone-blue 2.
| 1415 Test. Ebor. (1836) I. 382 Lectum de worstede de light blewe et sadde blewe. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre in Dom. Archit. II. 140 Damaske whyte and asure blewe. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xviii. xii, Velvet, al of Indy blewe. 1611 Cotgr., Couleur perse, skie-colour, azure colour..light blue. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gentl. i. xxiii. (1634) 78 That which we call skye colour or heavens-blew. 1882 Garden 18 Mar. 183/3 Rich azure blue, dark blue..violet blue, rich blue. |
g. Defining a quality of sheep's wool (see
quot.).
| 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 656/2 In the worsted trade the classification [of wool] goes..in descending series, from fine, blue, neat, brown, breech, downright, seconds, to abb... The greater proportion of good English long wool will be classified as blue, neat, and brown. |
h. Applied to animals with fur of a bluish-grey colour. So
blue hare (see 12 a).
| 1863, 1884 [see blue fox, sense 12 a]. 1887 P. M. Rule Cat v. 66 Blue or Silver Tabby... The ground-colour is a silver grey, with the stripes of a darker shade. 1909 Daily Chron. 15 Dec. 3/5 Cats of all colours, from ‘blue’ (which stands for smoke-grey in the cat-world) to ‘cream’. 1968 H. Harmar Chihuahua Guide 232 Blue, a blue-gray, such color as might be seen in the whippet or Bedlington. |
i. blue and white a., having a surface diversified with blue and white;
spec. of china. Hence
ellipt. as
n.| 1719 Lady Fermanagh Let. 19 Mar. in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. 18th Cent. (1930) II. ii. xxiii. 60, I shall want a dozen of blew and white china plates. 1753 Aris's Birmingham Gaz. Nov. in E. Meteyard Life of J. Wedgwood (1865) I. 243 This is to give notice to all painters in the blue and white potting way, and enamellers on china ware, that [etc.]. 1830 P. Neilson Recoll. Six Years' Residence in U.S. 320 Trowsers and frocks made of common drugget, (or blue and white as it is called). 1848 H. R. Forster Stowe Catal. 1 Twelve fruit dishes, of old blue and white. Ibid. 215 A blue-and-white bowl and covers. 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. i. 2 The fire-place..was ornamented with blue and white Dutch tiles bearing marvellous representations of Scripture history. 1875 Cornh. Mag. XXXI. 538 The blue-and-white porcelain of Nankin. 1941 E. Bowen Look at all those Roses 236 Blue-and-white plates, in metal clamps, hung in lines up the walls. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 120 The blue-and-white roo had chosen..a day camp. |
j. blue china.
Cf. blue n. 4.
| 1833 Lamb Old China in Last Ess. 218 A set of extraordinary old blue china. 1881 Trollope Ayala's Angel i, A few little dinner parties to show off his blue china. 1937 V. Woolf Years 9 A Dutch cabinet with blue china on the shelves. |
2. a. Livid, leaden-coloured, as the skin becomes after a blow, from severe cold, from alarm, etc.;
= obs. blo, and
dial. blae.
black and blue: see
black a. 13,
blae 1 b.
Cf. also
blue eye.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 125 Þat fur shal falle and forbrenne al to blewe [1377 blo] askes The houses and þe homes of hem þat taken ȝyftes. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) i. 340, I shuld bete you bak and side tyll it were blewe. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 49 There pinch the Maids as blew as Bill-berry. 1634 Milton Comus 434 Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. II. 23 My fingers cramped and my nose..blue. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles v. xxvi, His trembling lips are livid blue. |
b. Phr.
blue (in the face): livid with effort, excitement, etc. Used hyperbolically.
| 1864 Trollope Small House at Allington II. xvii. 175 You may talk to her till you're both blue in the face, if you please. 1917 ‘H. H. Richardson’ Fortunes R. Mahoney II. viii. 175 He alone must argue himself blue in the face over it. 1928 N. Coward C. B. Cochran's 1928 Revue i. v. 10 Beckon and coo Till you are blue, Mermaids have got no dam chance at all. 1934 F. Baldwin Innoc. Byst. (1935) xi. 212 I've talked myself blue in the face to him. 1959 ‘P. Quentin’ Shadow of Guilt x. 89 Swear till you're blue in the face that Chuck was with you all day. 1968 Observer 3 Nov. 3/3 I've been looking into..cases of dealers' rings..until I'm blue in the face. |
3. fig. a. Affected with fear, discomfort, anxiety, etc.; dismayed, perturbed, discomfited; depressed, miserable, low-spirited;
esp. in
phr. to look blue.
blue funk (slang): extreme nervousness, tremulous dread; also
blue-funk school, a jocular perversion of ‘blue-water school’;
blue fear, a variant of
blue funk.
| a 1550 Peblis to Play ii. 6 Than answerit Meg full blew. c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) ii. xxxvi. 84 It made the sunne looke blue. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin i. 316 But when he came to't, the poor Lad look't Blew. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) i. s.v. Blue, He looked very blue upon it, valde perturbatus fuit. 1840 Disraeli Corr. w. Sister (1886) 15 Great panic exists here, and even the knowing ones..look very pale and blue. 1861 Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 534 We encounter..the miserable Dr. Blandling in what is called..a blue funk. 1871 Maxwell in Life (1882) xii. 382 Certainly χλωρὸν δέος is the Homeric for a blue funk. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 600/1 I'm not a bit blue over the prospect. 1883 Stevenson in Longm. Mag. Apr. 683 The very name of Paris put her in a blue fear. 1908 Daily Chron. 24 Feb. 4/6 The identification by Mr. Harvey, M.P., of the ‘blue-water school’ with the ‘blue funk school’. Ibid. 20 July 4/3 The Jingo..is a nobler being than the disciples of our ‘blue-funk’ school. |
b. Intoxicated.
slang (chiefly
U.S.).
| 1818 M. L. Weems Drunkard's Looking Glass (ed. 6) 4 The patient goes by a variety of nicknames..such as boozy—groggy—blue—damp. 1860 [see sense 10]. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. ix. 166 A man who is drunk is said to be..blue. |
c. Of affairs, circumstances, prospects: dismal, unpromising, depressing. Chiefly in
a blue look-out,
to look blue.
| 1833 Mirror of Lit. 25 May 350 ‘Why it's a blue look out, Master,’ said he. 1857 Trollope Three Clerks xxix, Charley replied that neither had he any money at home. ‘That's blue,’ said the man. 1879 Hartigan & Walker Stray Leaves Ser. ii. xv. 257 If our present officers are like them..it's a blue look-out for the Afghans! 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robb. under Arms II. xvii. 258 It seemed a rather blue look-out. 1966 Wodehouse Plum Pie iii. 84 You don't want Freddie's whole future to turn blue at the edges.., do you? |
d. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the singing or playing of the
blues. So
blue note: a minor interval occurring where a major would be expected; an off-pitch note; also
transf. and
fig.| 1919 Dancing Times Aug. 482/2 From the clarionet began to flow the weirdest blue notes ever heard. 1928 Melody Maker Oct. 1093/1 Gramophone enthusiasts will be able to determine..the class of rhythm of the rendering, i.e. Blue, slow, or fast Fox-trot. 1930 E. Rice Voy. Purilia x. 134 In the jazz symphony of life, there are many blue notes. 1945 V. Thomson Musical Scene i. 30 The greatest master of ‘blue’, or off-pitch, notes. 1955 H. Kurnitz Invasion of Privacy (1956) vi. 49 Her voice trailed off in a forlorn blue-note fashion. 1969 C. Booker Neophiliacs iii. 68 The ‘blue notes’ and ‘flattened chords’..which provide sensations in jazz. |
† 4. Of the colour of blood; ? purple.
Obs.| 1483 Cath. Angl. 35 Blew [A. blowe], blodius. |
II. transf. and
fig. 5. a. Dressed in blue; wearing a blue badge.
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. man in Hum. ii. iv, We that are Bluewaiters. 1605 R. Armin Foole upon F. (1880) 42 Blew John, that giues Food to feede wormes. 1647 May Hist. Parl. iii. vi. 112 The blew auxiliary Regiment. 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4508/2 Two Battalions of the blue Foot-Guards. 1883 Reade Tit for Tat i, Gainsborough's blue boy. |
b. Blue Squadron: one of the three divisions made of the English Fleet in the 17th c.
| 1665 Lond. Gaz. No. 3/3, 17 or 18 sail of English Men of War (of the Blew Squadron). 1689 Ibid. No. 2467/4 This day Mr. Edward Russell, Admiral of the Blue Squadron, sailed from St. Helens. 1703 Ibid. No. 3896/3 John Leake, Esq. [is advanced] from Rear-Admiral of the Blue, to be Vice-Admiral of the same Squadron. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 160 Admirals of the red, white, blue, squadrons..bear a square flag of the colour of their squadron at the main..top gallant mast. |
c. Blue was formerly the distinctive colour for the dress of servants, tradesmen, etc., also of paupers, charity-school boys, almsmen, and in Scotland of the king's almoners or licensed beggars;
cf. blue apron (see 13), blue-bottle, blue-coat, blue-gown.
| 1609 B. Jonson Case Altered i. ii. (N.) [A serving-man] Ever since I was of the blue order. |
d. See
blue n. 9.
6. a. Belonging to the political party which, in any particular district, has chosen blue for its distinctive colour. (In most parts of England the Conservative party.)
| 1835 Disraeli Corr. w. Sister (1886) 35, I..have gained the show of hands, which no blue candidate ever did before. 1868 Holme Lee B. Godfrey li. 292 She had not won his promise to vote blue. Ibid. lii. 297 This was a blue demonstration, a gathering of the Conservative clans. |
b. true blue: (see above 1 e) specifically applied to the Scottish Presbyterian or Whig party in the 17th c. (the Covenanters having adopted
blue as their colour in contradistinction to the royal
red); but also with any use of
blue, as in
quot. 1860 where it
= ‘staunchly Tory’.
| 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 191 For his Religion it was fit To match his Learning and his Wit; 'Twas Presbyterian true Blew. 1785 Burns Author's Earn. Cry xiii, Dempster, a true blue Scot I'se warran. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. (1873) 75 A tough true-blue Presbyterian, called Deans. 1860 Trollope Framley P. i. 10 There was no portion of the county more decidedly true blue. |
7. Of women: Learned, pedantic. See
blue-stocking. (Usually
contemptuous.)
| 1788 F. Burney Diary (1842) IV. 219 Nobody would have thought it more odd or more blue. 1813 M. Edgeworth Patron. II. xxvi. 117 They are all so wise, and so learned, so blue. 1834 Southey Doctor xv. (1862) 37 A Lady..bluer than ever one of her naked, woad-stained ancestors appeared. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 38/2 Blue ladies there are, in Boston. 1864 Spectator No. 1875. 660 A clever, sensible woman, rather blue. |
8. fig. Often made the colour of plagues and things hurtful.
blue murder, used in intensive phrases: see
murder n. 3.
Cf. senses 1 c., 3 b., and
blue devil.
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 157 Riot, pride, perfidy, blue vapours breathe. 1742 R. Blair Grave 628 Racking pains, And bluest plagues, are thine. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) i. s.v. Blue, It was a blue bout to him, istud illi fatale fuit. 1847 Barham Ingol. Leg., Black Mousquet. ii. xv, Those mischievous Imps, whom the world..Has strangely agreed to denominate ‘Blue.’ 1856 Bryant On Revisit. Country v, The mountain wind..Sweeps the blue streams of pestilence away. |
9. colloq. a. Indecent, obscene.
Cf. blue n. 14 and
blueness 4.
| 1864 Hotten Slang Dict. 78 Blue, said of talk that is smutty or indecent. 1935 Economist 16 Mar. 584/2 The songs sounded not vulgar exactly, but..‘a bit on the blue side’. 1959 Spectator 14 Aug. 180/1 It meant that the theatre-going public were deprived of..outstanding contemporary plays, yet allowed to visit ‘blue’ variety shows. 1965 Punch 2 June 799/1 He also wanted to see a blue movie. |
b. (See
quot. 1890.)
| 1890 Farmer Slang I. 256/1 To make the air blue, to curse; to swear; to use profane language. 1924 ‘R. Crompton’ William—the Fourth iv. 72 A man in his shirt-sleeves whose language is turning the air blue for miles around. |
10. Phrases (
colloq.).
till all is blue: said of the effect of drinking on the eyesight.
by all that's blue:
cf. Fr. parbleu (
euphem. for
pardieu.)
| 1616 R. C. Times' Whis. v. 1835 They drink..Vntill their adle heads doe make the ground Seeme blew vnto them. 1838 Fraser's Mag. XVII. 313 Cracking jokes and bottles, until all is blue. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xxiii, ‘The black cat, by all that's blue!’ cried the captain. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Blue..a synonym in the tippler's vocabulary for ‘drunk’. To drink ‘till all's blue’ is to get exceedingly tipsy. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., Till all's Blue: carried to the utmost—a phrase borrowed from the idea of a vessel making out of port, and getting into blue water. |
III. Comb. 11. General combinations:
a. qualifying the names of other colours, as
blue-green,
blue-grey,
blue-lilac,
blue-purple,
blue-roan,
blue-violet,
blue-white; also
blue-black.
| 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 211 His eyeballs, flashing with a *blue-green glare. |
| 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 61 The keen glance of her *blue-grey eye. |
| 1882 Garden 2 Dec. 481/2 The colour varies from a deep *blue-purple to a bright violet-purple. |
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2224/4 A Mare of a *blue roan colour. 1881 Daily News 24 Feb. 3/1 A blue roan..which won at Oxford last summer. |
| 1879 O. N. Rood Chromatics ix. 122 The three fundamental colours..red, green, and *blue-violet. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 1 May 2/3 With half-mad eyes and *blue-white quivering lips. |
b. parasynthetic and instrumental, as
blue-aproned [
f. blue apron +
-ed2],
blue-backed,
blue-bleak,
blue-blooded,
blue-bloused,
blue-brilliant,
blue-cheeked,
blue-chequed,
blue-clad,
blue-coloured,
blue-faced,
blue-flowered,
blue-haired,
blue-hearted,
blue-laid [see
laid],
blue-lined,
blue-mantled,
blue-nailed,
blue-shirted,
blue-stained,
blue-suited,
blue-throated,
blue-ticked,
blue-washed,
blue-winged;
blue-glancing,
blue-glimmering.
| 1640 Bp. Hall Chr. Moder. 33/1 A separatist, a *blue-aproned man, that never knew any better school than his shop-board. 1651 Cleveland Poems 51 On J. W. 17 A fair blew-apron'd Priest. |
| 1845 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 174 A *blue-backed gull, and a curlew. |
| 1877 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 29 And *blue-bleak embers..Fall, gall themselves. |
| 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford vii. 128 The old *blue-blooded inhabitants of Cranford. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. iii. 129 Like an old blue-blooded hidalgo of Spain. |
| 1885 Warren & Cleverly Wand. of Beetle i. 3 The women..attended by *blue-bloused admirers. 1949 Blunden After Bombing 48 And blue-bloused workmen in the yards at meals. |
| 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 143 The peacock..struts *blue-brilliant out of the far East. |
| 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix, The Dominie, taking his *blue-checqued handkerchief from his eyes. |
| 1787 Latham Synopsis of Birds Suppl. 93 *Blue-cheeked C[urucui]. 1956 Nature 3 Mar. 404/2 The blue-cheeked bee-eater, added to the British list only in June 1951. |
| 1871 Whitman Passage to India 91 Disperse, ye *blue-clad soldiers! |
| 1858 W. Ellis Visits Madagasc. xi. 280 The little..*blue-flowered lobelia appeared in great abundance. |
| 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. i. xxii, The Sun, the Moon, the Earth, *blew-glimmering Hel. |
| 1634 Milton Comus 29 This isle..He quarters to his *blue-haired deities. 1855 Kingsley Heroes v. 167 Poseidon the blue-haired king of the seas. 1956 R. Fuller Image of Society vii. 178 Rose conferred with a blue-haired saleswoman. |
| 1894 Geol. Mag. Oct. 463 A *blue-hearted limestone. |
| c 1865 J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 153/1 Cream and *blue-laid paper. |
| 1658 May Old Couple i. i. in Dodsley (1780) X. 448 The blushing rose, *blue-mantled violet. |
| 1920 T. S. Eliot Ara Vus Prec 15 A meagre, *blue-nailed, phthisic hand. |
| 1907 Westm. Gaz. 6 May 7/1 The voiceless millions of *blue-shirted fellaheen. 1934 Times 19 Feb. 17/3 General O'Duffy was met by 2,000 blue-shirted men and women yesterday. |
| 1925 Blunden English Poems 87 *Blue-suited Labour's hoeing By Labour's graves. 1961 Guardian 12 June 7/1 Blue-suited young organisation men. |
| 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. (ed. 2) 205 note, The *blue-throated warbler (Sylvia suecica) may be named as a rare visitor. |
| 1908 Daily Chron. 29 Aug. 7/4 The *blue-ticked dog. |
| 1637 Morton New Canaan ii. iv, Teales there are of two sorts, green winged and *blew winged. 1732 Blue-wing'd [see shoveller2 2]. 1789 Morse Amer. Geogr. 59 The Blue winged Teal. Ibid., The Blue winged shoveller. 1878 Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 60 A blue-winged butterfly. 1931 Hardy's Anglers' Guide 60 Dry Flies..Blue Winged Olive, Male. |
12. Used more or less descriptively and distinctively, in forming the names of natural objects:
a. Animals, as
blue-bill U.S. and
dial.,
= scaupduck;
blue-breast, the Blue-throated Redstart or Warbler;
blue bull, the Nyl-gau or Nhilgai of India;
blue cat, a Siberian cat valued for its fur; also a North American species of cat-fish;
blue cocks, the
Salmo albus;
blue fly, a blue-bottle fly;
blue fox, a variety of the Arctic fox, and its fur;
blue-grey (see
quot. 1902);
blue hare, the varying hare (see
varying ppl. a. 3);
blue hawk, (
a) the Peregrine Falcon (
F. peregrinus); (
b) the Ring-tailed Harrier (
Circus cyaneus), also called
blue glede and
blue kite;
blue-head, a worm used as bait;
blue heeler, an Australian cattle-dog with a dark blue speckled body;
blue ling, popular name of a kind of ling,
Molva byrkelange (earlier called
lesser ling);
blue pointer, the popular name of a shark of either of two species found
esp. in Australasian waters (see
quot. 1953);
blue poker, a kind of duck, the Pochard;
blue-poll, the
Salmo albus (
= blue cocks);
blue-rock, a kind of pigeon;
bluetail, (
a)
dial. the fieldfare; (
b)
red-flanked bluetail: an Asian bird,
Tarsiger cyanurus;
blue-throat, any of various birds
esp. of the genus
Cyanecula or
Cyanosylvia (see
quots.);
blue tit, the Blue Titmouse;
= blue cap 4;
blue whale, a bluish-grey rorqual,
Sibbaldus musculus;
blue-wing, name of a genus of ducks;
spec. an American variety of teal. Also
blue goose,
blue jay,
blue linnet,
blue shark, etc.; and in the names of many artificial angling flies, as
blue dun,
blue gnat,
blue jay, etc. Also
blue-bird, blue-bottle,
blue-cap,
blue-fish.
| 1813 Wilson Ornith. VIII. 84 Scaup Duck..better known among us by the name of the *Blue Bill. 1890 J. Watson Nature & Woodcraft vii. 83 The fishermen hereabout call them [sc. scaups] ‘dowkers’ and ‘bluebills’. 1909 R. W. Chambers Firing Line x, The little blue-bill ducks came swimming in scores. 1965 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Jan. 13 Scaup (bluebill, cockleduck: Morecambe Bay, 1892). |
| 1835 J. Martin Descr. Virginia 347 Fine fish, particularly the mud and *blue cat. 1877 R. I. Dodge Hunting Grounds Gt. West 250 The blue cat is also common in all the plain streams, attaining sometimes a weight of fifteen to twenty-five pounds. |
| 1759 Goldsm. Bee No. 4 ¶ 30 A large *blue fly fell into the snare. 1856 Stowe Dred 160 He just puts me in mind of one of these blue-flies. 1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars xi. 151 That howl brings half the forest against me, like blue-flies to meat. |
| 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland 324 We disturbed a *blue Arctic fox. 1884 Daily News 27 Oct. 2/1 Costly fur, such as sable, blue fox, otter, or beaver. |
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 191/2 The cross between the Shorthorn and the Aberdeen-Angus [breed of cattle], known as the ‘*Blue Grey’. 1960 Times 25 Jan. 19/1 The original Galloways were put to a Shorthorn bull. This gave us a Bluegrey cow. |
| 1895 R. Lydekker Handbk. Brit. Mammalia 226 The geographical distribution of the Mountain, Alpine, *Blue, Irish, or Polar, Hare, as the animal is variously called, is very extensive. 1962 M. Burton Dict. Mammals of World 92 Varying Hare..also known as Blue Hare, Scottish Hare or Alpine Hare..has bluish tinge in spring and autumn, at change of coat. |
| 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. v. xi. 6 §3.312 The Marsh⁓worm or *Blue-head is found in moist..localities. |
| 1946 F. D. Davison Dusty (1947) xvii. 196 One of the dogs was a *blue heeler, a cattle dog. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 911 The *blewe kyte, faulz perdrier. |
| 1916 A. Meek Migrations of Fish xviii. 237 Genus Molva..M. byrkelange. *Blue or lesser ling. Ibid. 238 The blue ling is occasionally landed at our ports from boats which have been fishing in deep water to the north. |
| 1882 J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish of N.S.W. 95 (Morris), On the appearance of a ‘*blue pointer’ among boats fishing for schnapper outside, the general cry is raised, ‘Look out for the blue pointer’. 1917 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 588/1 Those that the Sydney fisherman knows best,..and destroy human life, are the tiger shark, the blue pointer [etc.]. 1953 J. L. B. Smith Sea Fishes S. Afr. 49 Carcharodon carcharis..Blue-Pointer (Durban)... This swift and voracious shark is a terror to all who venture on or in the water. Ibid. 50 Isurus glaucus..Blue Pointer, Mako Shark... A famous angling fish, abundant in Australasian waters, very swift and powerful. |
| 1780 G. White Selborne xliv. 111, I readily concur with you in supposing that house-doves are derived from the small *blue rock pigeon. 1863 H. Kingsley A. Elliot, A cage containing five-and-twenty ‘blue-rocks’. |
| 1866 J. Bowring in Trans. Devonshire Assoc. Advancem. Sci. I. v. 18 The *blue⁓tail..and many more will probably fly away. 1878 H. E. Dresser Hist. Birds of Europe II. lxvii. 2 Nemura Cyanura (Red-flanked Bluetail)..this richly coloured Asiatic bird is found throughout Asia. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 5 Fieldfare..From the predominant bluish tinge of its upper plumage are derived:—Blue tail (Midlands; West Riding), [etc.]. 1948 S. Bruce in Scottish Naturalist LX. 6 (title) The Red-Flanked Bluetail in Shetland. Ibid., The bluetail will henceforward appear on the British list... The bluetail is related to the redstarts, bluethroats, robins, and chats. |
| 1873 W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Birds (ed. 4) I. 321 The *Bluethroat Phœnicura Suecica. Ibid. 323 The majority of Bluethroats which come to the rest of Continental Europe..were..first distinguished by Brehm as Cyanecula leucocyana. 1954 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles III. 307 Bluethroat, Cyanosylvia svecica... Red-spotted Bluethroat, Cyanosylvia svecica svecica... White-spotted Bluethroat, Cyanosylvia svecica cyanecula. |
| 1845 Gard. Chron. 86 The robin..seems to fear the *blue-tit. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick I. xxxi. 229 There are a rabble of uncertain, fugitive, half-fabulous whales..the Iceberg Whale..the *Blue Whale; &c. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 524/2 The ‘blue whale’, the largest of all known animals, attains a length of 80 or even sometimes 85 feet. 1937 Discovery Nov. 357/2 The largest animal known, the blue whale or Sibbald's rorqual. |
| 1709 Lawson Carolina 148 The Blue-Wings are less than a Duck, but fine Meat. 1754 [see teal 2]. 1768 Washington Diaries (1925) I. 294 Went into the Neck and up the Creek after Blew Wings. 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting xv. 192 They are a trifle smaller than the blue-wings. 1895 Outing (U.S.) Oct. XXVII. 43/1 A bunch of blue-wing teal rose from the ice-pond. |
b. Plants, as
blue ash U.S., a North American variety of ash;
blue-berry, the name of various species of
Vaccinium, especially the American
V. corymbosum;
blue-blaw,
blue-cup,
Centaurea cyanus:
= bluebottle 1;
blue-bush, a popular name of any of several varieties of shrub,
esp. the Australian
Kochia pyramidata;
blue chamomile or
blue daisy, the Sea Starwort, and other blue composite flowers;
blue-gage, a kind of plum;
blue gum (tree), the
Eucalyptus globulus of Australia;
blue-hearts,
Buchnera americana;
† blue-pipe, the Lilac;
† blue poppy (
dial.),
bluebottle 1;
blue rocket,
Aconitum pyramidale;
blue star (see
quot.);
blue tangles,
Vaccinium frondosum;
blue-weed, Viper's Bugloss,
Echium vulgare. Also in numberless specific names, as
blue crane's-bill, etc. See also bluebell, bluebonnet,
bluebottle.
| 1783 W. Fleming in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Col. (1916) 667 *Blue Ash a spieces of the White Ash and called so from the bark tinging water of that colour. 1819 D. Thomas Trav. 93 The blue ash..is a fine stately tree of two or three feet diameter, generally of a straight grain, and may be easily split into rails. 1832 D. J. Browne Sylva Amer. 156 The Blue Ash is unknown to the Atlantic parts of the United States. |
| 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) VI. 2181 *Blue-berries, black-berries, cran-berries, and crow-berries. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 603/2 We are feasting now upon blue-berries. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xiii. 161 This floure is called..of Turner Blew bottell, and *Blewblaw. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 92 No sooner hath the Rose plaied his part, but the blew-blaw entereth the stage. 1611 Cotgr., Blaveoles, Blew bottles, Blew blawes, Corne-flowers. |
| 1876 W. Harcus South Australia 124 (Morris), Thickly grassed with short fine grass, salt and *blue bush, and geranium and other herbs. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 7 June 25/2 Blue bush is far-famed among cattlemen—a stout shrub of 2ft. or 3ft. high, with short thick leaves. 1934 Ibid. 5 Dec. 20/2 Sandalwood-tree..grows over the whole s.-w. of Queensland, though not always in commercial quantities, and is generally known as ‘plum’ or ‘bluebush’. 1936 F. Clune Roaming round Darling xviii. 177 All about this country grows a bluebush shrub (actually more green than blue), with closely assembled leaves, very good for sheep. 1958 L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari i. 24 A cleft over-grown and purple with the shadow of blue-bush. |
| 1597 Gerard Herbal lxxxviii. 334 Women that dwell by the sea side, call it..*blew Daisies, or *blew Camomill. |
| 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. II. 95 The purple bloom of grapes and *blue-gages. |
| 1808 Home in Phil. Trans. XCVIII. 305 The tender shoots of the *blue gum tree. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xix. (1873) 435 The trees with the exception of some of the Blue-gums. 1884 19th Cent. Feb. 321 The Eucalyptus globulus or Blue Gum tree of Australia, has a special power of antagonising the spread of malaria. |
| 1697 J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XIX. 679 The Common Lilac or *Blew Pipe Tree. |
| 1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 174/1 The *blue star [grass, of Queensland], Chloris ventricosa. |
c. Minerals, as
blue asbestos = crocidolite;
blue-billy (see
quots.);
blue clay, a clay of this colour,
esp. (
a) that used in pottery manufacture (see
quot. 1957); (
b)
= blue ground (see sense 13);
blue copper,
blue malachite,
= azurite; see also
copper n. 1 b;
blue copperas,
blue vitriol, sulphate of copper (see
vitriol);
blue felspar,
blue spar,
= lazulite;
blue iron = vivianite;
blue lead (see
quots.);
blue metal, name given by the workmen to a sulphide of copper obtained during the process of copper-smelting; also, argillaceous shale of a bluish colour, used
esp. in road-making;
blue slipper, local name of the Gault clay. Also
blue verditer, etc. See also
Blue-John,
bluestone.
| c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 118/1 Carbonic acid, cyanogen, and sulphuretted hydrogen, are extracted from the gas; these combine with the lime, and produce a..compound, which is technically termed *blue-billy. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Blue-billy, the residuum of cupreous pyrites after roasting with salt. |
| 1733 Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming 17 Black or *Blue Clays—I am now come to touch on the very best of all Clays. 1784 R. Kirwan Elem. Min. viii. 78 Blue clays. These sometimes lose their colour and become white when heated. 1886 G. A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert iii. 31 Two, three, four blasts followed..and some tons of hard blue clay were loosened ready to be carried to the ‘floors’. 1938 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. II. 309/1 Diamonds occur sparingly in river beds or embedded in ‘blue clay’. 1957 Encycl. Brit. VII. 842/2 Ball Clay. This is found principally in Devon and in Dorsetshire, and is sometimes known as blue clay, owing to its greyish-blue colour, which is due to organic matter. When fired..it becomes white. |
| 1875 Ure Dict. Arts I. 407 *Blue Lead, a name used sometimes by the miners to distinguish galena from the carbonate, or white lead. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Blue-lead (pronounced like the verb to lead), the bluish auriferous gravel and cement deposit found in the ancient river-channels of California. |
| 1808 *Blue metal [see metal n. 10]. a 1835 J. Phillips Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VI. 628/2 The least fragment of jet or morsel of bituminous shale, especially if accompanied by ‘blue metal’ is enough to make a credulous proprietor listen to an ignorant collier. 1892 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words 69 Blue metal, indurated argillaceous shale, of a bluish purple colour, resembling that of blue slates. 1909 A. H. Davis On our Selection (1953) vi. 30 We had been accustomed to pelt her with potatoes and blue-metal. 1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 102 They came close enough into the college to send messages to the teacher by showering blue metal on the roof of their Alma Mater. |
| 1881 Daily News, A great deal of the most charming scenery of the Undercliff..is due to the freaks of what is locally called the ‘*blue slipper.’ |
| 1770 Watson in Phil. Trans. LX. 332 *Blue vitriol, corrosive sublimate. 1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 90 The qualities of blue vitriol used for soaking wheat. |
13. Special combinations or phrases.
† blue apron, one who wears a blue apron, a tradesman;
blue baby, an infant suffering from congenital cyanosis;
blue bag, a barrister's (
orig. a solicitor's) brief-bag of blue stuff; hence, one carrying such a bag; so (
nonce)
to forget the blue bag, to ignore (the indications of) one's rank;
blue band, a band of glacier ice of a blue colour due to the absence of air-bubbles;
blue beat [
f. the name of the record label on which it was principally distributed in Britain], used chiefly
attrib. of a style of popular music of Jamaican origin characterized by a strong off-beat; a British development of
ska;
blue blanket, the banner of the Edinburgh craftsmen;
fig. the sky;
blue blood (see
blood 8);
blue boy slang, a policeman (
usu. in
pl.):
cf. boys in blue s.v. blue n. 3 b; so
Blue Force;
blue brick (see
quot. 1889);
blue brittleness, the brittleness of steel at blue heat;
blue butter = blue ointment;
blue cheese, a cheese marked with veins of blue mould (
cf. bleu);
blue-collar attrib. (chiefly
U.S.), designating a manual or industrial worker, as distinct from a ‘white-collar’ worker; so
blue-collared adj.;
blue comb (disease), a disease affecting young pullets in which there is cyanosis of the comb;
blue dahlia, an expression for anything rare or unheard of;
blue disease, a popular name for
Cyanosis;
blue-domer colloq., one who does not go to church, preferring to worship beneath the ‘blue dome’ of heaven; hence
blue-domeism, this attitude to worship,
blue-domeist, one who has such an attitude;
blue earth = blue ground;
blue fire, a blue light used on the stage for weird effect; hence
attrib. sensational (
cf. sense 1 c);
blue flint (see
quot.);
Blue Force (see
blue boy);
blue gas (see
quot.);
blue ground, the dark soil, normally greyish-blue, in which diamonds are found;
Blue Guide [
cf. F.
Guide Bleu], one of a series of popular guide-books with blue covers;
blue heat, a temperature of about 550° Fahr., at which ironwork assumes a bluish tint;
blue jacket, a sailor (from the colour of his jacket);
esp. used to distinguish the seamen from the marines;
blue jaundice (
= blue disease);
blue-jean attrib., made of blue jean; as
n. pl., trousers made of blue jean; also
transf.; hence
blue-jeaned adj.;
blue laws, severe Puritanic laws said to have been enacted last century at New Haven, Connecticut,
U.S.; hence
fig.;
blue light, a pyrotechnical composition which burns with a blue flame, used also at sea as a night-signal;
blue line (in
Real Tennis), the service-line (so coloured);
blue mantle, the dress, and the title, of one of the four pursuivants of the English College of Arms;
blue measure (see
quot.)
Obs.;
Blue Monday, (
a) the Monday before Lent; (
b) a Monday spent in dissipation by workmen (
cf. Ger. der blaue Montag);
blue moon (
colloq.), a rarely recurring period;
blue-mould, the mould of this colour produced upon cheese, consisting of a fungus,
Aspergillus glaucus; hence
blue-moulded,
-moulding a.;
blue-mouldy a., covered with blue mould; also
fig.;
Blue Mountain (coffee), a type of Jamaican coffee;
blue mud, a marine deposit coloured by organic matter and iron sulphide;
Blue Nun = conceptionist 2;
blue oil (see
quot.);
blue ointment mercurial ointment (see
mercurial a. 5);
blue pencil, a blue ‘lead’ pencil used chiefly in marking corrections, obliterations, and the like;
blue-pencil v. trans., to mark, score through, or obliterate with a blue pencil; hence, to make ‘cuts’ in; to censor; also used euphemistically (
cf. blank n. 12 b); hence
blue-pencilling vbl. n.;
Blue Peter, (
a) a blue flag with a white square in the centre, hoisted as the signal of immediate sailing; hence, in
Whist, the playing a higher card than is needed, as a signal or ‘call’ for trumps; (
b)
U.S. (see
quots.);
blue pigeon slang,
† (
a) (the act of stealing) lead,
esp. that used for roofing; also
attrib.; hence
to fly the blue pigeon: to steal lead; (
b)
Naut. the sounding lead; see
pigeon n. 4 b;
blue pill, (
a) a mercurial pill of antibilious operation; (
b)
U.S. slang, a bullet; hence
blue-pilled a.;
blue-plate,
U.S. (see
quot. 1961);
blue point (see
point);
blue pot, a pot made of a mixture of clay and graphite, a black-lead crucible;
blue process (see
quot.);
blue (process) paper, a sensitized paper used for copying maps and plans, made by saturating the paper with potassium ferrocyanide;
blue ruin (
slang), gin, usually of bad quality;
Blue Shirt, Blueshirt, one who wears a blue shirt as a sign of allegiance to or membership of a particular group, party, etc.;
blue streak colloq. (
orig. U.S.), (
a) something resembling a flash of lightning in speed, vividness, etc.; (
b) a constant stream of words;
esp. in
phr. to talk a blue streak;
Blue Train [
cf. F.
Train Bleu] (see
quot. 1951);
blue-vinnied a. dial. [
cf. finny,
vinny a.
2], having a blue mould; hence
blue-vinn(e)y, a blue-mould cheese made in Dorsetshire;
blue-washed a., (
a) washed by the blue sea; (
b) covered with a blue wash;
blue water, the open sea;
blue water-gas = blue gas;
blue-water school, a collective term applied to politicians or political thinkers who regard a strong navy and the command of the sea as essential to the security of the country, or as the chief or the only sufficient defence. See also blue-beard, blue-book, etc.
| 1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. xliii. 230 For, if any saucy *blue apron dares to affront any venerable person..all scholars are immediately forbid to have any dealings or commerce with him. |
| 1903 R. H. Babcock Dis. Heart xxix. 692 The little patient had been a *blue baby from birth. 1964 M. McLuhan Understanding Media ii. xxviii. 282 Watching a blue-baby heart operation on TV. |
| 1809 Malkin tr. Le Sage's Gil Blas II. v. i. 343 Said I to myself, every now and then, when they forgot the *blue-bag: this is the way of the world! Every one fancies himself to be..superior to his neighbour. 1817 Black Dwarf 31 Dec. 814 Black legs, blue-bags, learned wig-blocks. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxiii, Mr. Pickwick..followed Mr. Perker and the blue bag out of court. 1852 ― Bleak Ho. i, A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of papers and carried off by clerks. 1910 Blue bag [see brief n. 11]. |
| 1895 Dana Man. Geol. (ed. 4) 243 Lamellar or straticulate structure of glacier-ice modified by..the ‘*blue bands’, or ‘veined structure’. 1937 Discovery Feb. 36/1 There are ‘blue bands’ or layers of a very much harder ice, containing small bubbles of air. |
| 1968 Listener 29 Feb. 284/3 Surprising..to see his group of pugnacious London 13 to 14-year-olds acting out a kind of ballet about cowboys to their own selection of *blue-beat music. 1971 [see rocksteady]. 1974 A. Ali Westindians in Gt. Brit. 96 He..cherishes the memories of ‘the Blue Beat era’. 1980 Oxford Times 18 Jan. 15/1 The name most commonly applied to the Specials' style is ‘ska’ or ‘bluebeat’, which means that it harks back to the pre-reggae sound of West Indian music. |
| 1599 Jas. I. Basil. Doron (1603) 51 If they in any thing be controlled, up goeth the *blew-blanket. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil i. v, We must be content till we come 'tother side the Blue-blanket, and then we shall know. 1780 (title) Historical Account of the Blue Blanket or Craftsmen Banner, with the Prerogatives of the Crafts of Edinburgh. 1828–41 Tytler Hist. Scotl. (1864) II. 224 Calling out the trained bands and armed citizens beneath a banner presented to them on this occasion [1482] and denominated the Blue Blanket. |
| 1883 J. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 68 The instrumental ‘*blue boys’ belonging to several metropolitan divisions. 1912 A. S. M. Hutchinson Happy Warrior v. vii. §2 The Blue Boys from the police-station..scoured the country. |
| 1850 R. Prosser in E. Dobson Manuf. Bricks & Tiles i. iv. 99 An ordinary *blue brick weighs, wet from the mould, 12 lbs. 4 oz. 1889 E. J. Burrell Elem. Building Construction xiv. 218 Staffordshire blue bricks. These are composed of clay containing a large percentage of oxide of iron, which is converted into the black oxide by intense heat, giving a characteristic dark-blue colour to the bricks. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 99/1 Blue bricks,..(made chiefly in Staffordshire and North Wales)..form the best quality engineering bricks. |
| 1919 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. C. 521 Fettweis..explains the phenomenon of *blue-brittleness and the aging of steel. 1959 Ibid. CXCI. 100/2 It was found that the best heat treatment for reducing blue brittleness in 0·55% C steel was subcritical annealing at 550° C. |
| 1874 Hotten Slang Dict., *Blue Butter, mercurial ointment used for the destruction of parasites. |
| 1925 L. J. Lord Pract. Butter & Cheese Making xxvi. 145 This kind [sc. Stilton] and that next described are full-milk *blue cheeses. |
| 1950 Tuscaloosa News 25 Nov. 1/5 ‘*Blue collar’ workers also include helpers, laborers, and supervisors. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 631/1 The blue-collar people, the machine operators. 1959 Observer 1 Nov. 8/2 The split is no longer between white- and blue-collar workers, but between those with and those without the college diplomas. 1967 Boston Herald 1 Apr. 5/8 He thought his main appeal would be to the ‘little business men’, clerks, auto workers, building and trade workers and similar blue collar groups. |
| 1959 V. Packard Status Seekers (1960) ii. 25 The recent great gain of white-collared workers over *blue-collared ones. 1967 Guardian 16 May 2/4 The traditional ‘iron curtain’ between white and blue collared civil servants. |
| 1941 Amer. Jrnl. Vet. Res. II. 261/2 Depression is marked and the comb may be wilted and cyanotic, hence the popular name ‘*blue comb’. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. May 442/1 The condition of poultry known as pullet disease, blue-comb disease, new wheat disease, or X disease has been known in Great Britain and America for several years. |
| [1820 Shelley Cloud vi, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams, Build up the blue dome of air.] 1945 A. Huxley Time must have a Stop xxx. 289 Those of us who..have found that humanism and *blue-domeism are not enough. 1952 J. Masefield So Long to Learn ii. 100 There were..Celtic Fringers,..Blue Dome-ists, [etc.]. 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 5) 1005/1 Blue-domer, an officer that absents himself from church parade. 1962 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Aug. 554/4 ‘Blue-domer’ parents in whose eyes the most damnable thing was to be ‘pi’. |
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 22 May 3/2 The well-known ‘*blue earth’ of the diamond mines. |
| 1875 C. L. Kenney Mem. Balfe 131 The same theatre..set up a formidable opposition..in the shape of a *blue fire melodrama. |
| 1861 J. Sheppard Fall Rome vi. 309 Many persons living can recollect that their English auxiliaries were termed *Blue Flints by the peasants of Vendée, from the unusual colour of the flints in their musket-locks. |
| 1927 Daily Express 27 Dec. 1 The ‘*Blue Force’,—that is, the uniform branch of the police. |
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 602/1 Water gas in its original state is called ‘*blue gas’, because it burns with a blue, non-luminous flame. |
| 1886 J. Noble Handbk. Cape Good Hope 192 The ‘*blue ground’..far from being barren of diamonds..yielded even better returns than the upper layers of ‘yellow ground’. 1911 Daily Chron. 25 Mar. 3/2 Of very great rarity is a piece of ‘blue ground’ with a diamond embedded in it... The ‘blue ground’..is..not uncommonly black or brown. |
| 1918 (title) The *Blue Guides: London & its Environs. 1935 Discovery June 156/2 The Blue Guides..bear the mark of an original and scholarly mind. |
| 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §328 The iron came to about, or rather above, a *blue heat. 1879 Cassells Techn. Educ. IV. 400/1 A temperature known as a blue or black heat. |
| 1830 Marryat King's Own ii, Every *‘blue jacket’ would walk over. 1859 L. Oliphant Elgin's Miss. China I. 128 The ladders..were soon swarming with marines and blue-jackets. |
| 1855 H. Melville Israel Potter xx. 216 Across the otherwise *blue-jean career of Israel, Paul Jones flits and re-flits like a crimson thread. 1932 F. L. Wright Autobiogr. i. 16 Blue-jean overalls with blue cotton suspenders. 1957 Blue jeans [see jean]. 1960 20th Cent. Dec. 557 A simple provincial gaucheness, a corny blue-jeans innocence. |
| 1956 J. Potts Diehard viii. 138 She..swung her *blue-jeaned legs. |
| 1781 S. Peters Hist. Connecticut (1877) 44 Even the religious fanatics of Boston and the mad zealots of Hertford..christened them the ‘*Blue Laws’. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes I. v. 175 The local legislature of Connecticut, which sage body enacted..the renowned code of ‘Blue Laws’. 1876 Emerson Ess. Ser. i. viii. 204 Simple hearts..play their own game in innocent defiance of the Blue-laws of the world. |
| 1805 Nelson Disp. (1846) VII. 57, I had rather that all the Ships burnt a *blue-light. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 51 Blue lights and Catharine wheels..all firing away. |
| 1616 Bulloker, *Blewmantle, the name of an office of one of the Purseuants at armes. 1766 Entick London IV. 27 The four pursuivants..are Rougecroix, Bluemantle, Rougedragon, and Portcullis. 1814 Scott Wav. ii, A tie which Sir Everard held as sacred as either Garter or Blue-Mantle. |
| 1891 Daily News 27 Apr. 3/2 The ‘*Blue’ Measure... A measure called the blue (which contained two-thirds of a pint, and was universally used in Wales). |
| 1801 W. Render Tour through Germany I. 100 Germany is indebted to this wise emperor [sc. Joseph II], among many other abolitions, to the two following in particular; namely, Der blaue Montag, ‘the *blue Monday’, and the ‘infamy of certain trades’. 1840 Boston Transcript 2 Mar. 2/2 This was blue Monday in the House. 1844 W. Howitt tr. Holthaus's Wand. Journeyman Tailor ix. 109, I did not omit on Sundays, and sometimes too on blue Mondays, to go about and observe the life and manners of this great city [sc. Constantinople]. 1885 Harper's Mag. 873/1 The workman getting sober after his usual ‘blue Monday’. |
| 1821 P. Egan Real Life in London I. xiv. 249 ‘How's Harry and Ben?—haven't seen you this *blue moon.’ [Footnote] Blue Moon—This is usually intended to imply a long time. 1869 E. Yates Wrecked in Port xxii. 242 That indefinite period known as a ‘blue moon’. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. xxiv. 246 A fruit pasty once in a blue moon. |
| 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 28 *Blew mould and Mushromes. 1863 Cornh. Mag., Roundab. Papers xxvii, Carps..with great humps of blue mould on their old backs. |
| 1864 C. O'Dowd Men & Women 7 The Austrians, as Paddy says, are *blue-moulded for want of a beatin. [The expression is usually ‘blue-mouldy for want of a bāting’.] 1876 Daily News 3 Nov. 5/5 If this [bad weather] continues there is a danger of us all getting blue-moulded. |
| 1874 Hardy Madding Crowd II. iii. 39 Stales [sc. cakes], that were all but *blue-mouldy, but not quite. 1900 Daily News 3 Apr. 2/5, I was ‘blue-mouldy for want of a batin',’ as they say in certain parts of the Empire. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 293, I was blue mouldy for the want of that pint. |
| 1922 W. H. Ukers All about Coffee xxiv. 350 Jamaica produces two distinct types of coffee, the highland and the lowland growths. Among the first named is the celebrated *Blue Mountain coffee, which has a well developed pale blue-green bean that makes..a pleasantly aromatic cup. 1963 L. Deighton Horse under Water xxxiii. 130, I was drinking a second cup of Blue Mountain. |
| 1876 J. Murray in Proc. R. Soc. XXIV. 499 A *blue mud containing:—A great many pelagic Foraminifera and some Pteropod shells. 1882 Geikie Text-Bk. Geol. iii. ii. 438 The deposits were found to consist of blue and green muds derived from the degradation of older crystalline rocks. 1885 Blue mud [see mud n.1 1 c]. |
| a 1700 in Harleian Misc. (1744) I. 425/2 A Monastery of Visitation-Nuns, otherwise *Blue Nuns. a 1848 E. Petre Notices of Eng. Colleges (1849) p. v, Nuns of the Conception, or Blue Nuns, at Paris. 1931 N. & Q. 22 Aug. 143/2 The most prominent of them is Elizabeth Anne, who helped to establish the Blue Nuns in Paris, and became their Abbess. |
| 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 242/2 The oil from which hard and soft paraffin are separated..exhibits a blue fluorescence, and is hence called *blue oil. |
| 1839 R. Hooper's Lex. Med. (ed. 7) 268/1 *Blue ointment, the mercurial ointment. |
| 1888 N.Y. Herald 29 July (Farmer), The editor of the Century Magazine *blue pencils magazine articles by the bushel. 1893 Kipling Many Invent. 167 The blue pencil plunged remorselessly through the slips. 1899 Daily News 17 Feb., The actor will have a better chance after the blue pencil has eliminated the unnecessary verbiage in the dialogue. 1904 S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories iii. 48 One log had not been blue-pencilled across the end. 1914 G. Cannan Old Mole 39 He blue-pencilled false quantities in Latin verse. 1925 Mus. Assoc. Proc. 60 He would blue-pencil an unprepared chord of the seventh in a motet in the style of Palestrina. 1940 New Statesman 13 Apr. 491/2 They certainly are blue-pencil unpopular with a lot of people in wartime. |
| 1904 A. Bennett Great Man xxviii. 331 The *blue-pencilling of the play proceeded. |
| 1709 Lawson Carolina 151 *Blue-Peters, the same as you call Water-Hens in England, are here very numerous. 1823 Byron Juan xi. lxxxiii, It is time that I should hoist my ‘*blue Peter’, And sail for a new theme. 1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 23 At the foremast head..the ‘blue Peter’ was flying as a summons to the hands on shore to come aboard. c 1875 Beeton Handy Bk. Games 358 Since the introduction of Blue Peter, the necessity of leading through your adversary's hand has become less and less. 1917 Birds of Amer. I. 214 Coot. Fulica americana... Other names.—American Coot..Blue Peter. |
| 1732 Select Trials Old-Bailey (1735) II. 468/1 We could find no better Business than stealing Lead—We call it the *Blue Pigeon, or the Buff-Lay. 1781 G. Parker View of Society II. i. 63 Blue Pigeon-Flyer. These are Journeymen Plumbers and Glaziers who repair houses, and Running Dustmen. To fly the Blue Pigeon is cutting off lead from what they call a Prayer Book up to a Bible. 1789 ― Life's Painter xv. 165 Blue pigeon flying. Fellows who steal lead off houses, or cut pipes away. 1856 Harper's Mag. XIII. 589/1 The speed [of the ship] was slackened, and the ‘blue pigeon’ kept constantly moving. 1887 Judy 27 Apr. 200 A burglar whose particular ‘lay’ was flying the blue pigeon, i.e., stealing lead. 1897 Blue pigeon [see pigeon n. 4 b]. |
| 1794–1824 D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Med. & Mor., The most artificial logic..may be swallowed with the *blue pill, or any other in vogue. 1834 ‘J. Downing’ Andrew Jackson 111 They saw no hopes from fitin, they wern't fond of blue pills. 1861 E. Mayhew Dogs 102 A few years ago..blue-pill with black draught literally became a part of the national diet. 1871 J. R. Planché K. Christmas, There are blue devils which defy blue pills. |
| 1945 S. Lewis C. Timberlane (1946) xix. 112 They were taking the *Blue Plate Dinner. 1952 Auden Nones 27 Having finished the Blue-plate Special And reached the coffee stage. 1961 Webster Blue Plate. 1. A restaurant dinner plate divided into compartments for serving several kinds of food as a single order. 2. A main course (as of meat and vegetable) served as a single menu item. |
| 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. 85 The..crucibles for this purpose are known by the name of *blue-pots. |
| a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Blue Process for Copying, a mode of copying tracings in lieu of re-tracing them. |
| 1819 Moore Epist. fr. T. Cribb 15 One swig of *Blue Ruin is worth the whole lot! 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. x. 334 This latter [Potheen] I have tasted, as well as the English Blue-Ruin, and the Scotch Whisky. |
| 1933 Yeats Let. 13 July in New Statesman (1965) 19 Mar. 441/2 Our chosen colour is blue and *Blueshirts are marching about all over the country. 1937 E. Snow Red Star over China i. 30 Chiang Kai-shek's own Blueshirt gendarmes. Ibid., Over 300 Communists were imprisoned..and the Blueshirts were hunting for more. 1938 Ann. Reg. 1937 274 He also demanded that the Blueshirts, a sort of private army of the Wafd, should be dissolved. 1965 C. D. Eby Siege of Alcázar (1966) ii. 48 Moscardó discovered the sixty Falangists hiding in the photography laboratory... Vela argued that if fighting broke out, the Blue Shirts would be useful to the Alcázar. |
| 1830 Kentuckian 14 May, To pass..with such rapidity as not even to leave a ‘*blue streak’ behind him. 1847 Knickerbocker XXX. 178 Interspersing his vehement comments with a ‘blue streak’ of oaths. 1895 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 289, I..drove in her sort of..carryall..talking a blue streak two miles to her house. 1937 Runyon More than Somewhat iii. 64 She hears..a guy cussing a blue streak. 1949 Landfall III. 236 Sid was talking a blue streak to Jean. 1968 ‘R. Raine’ Night of Hawk xxii. 109, I was talking a blue streak, my expression like thunder. |
| 1928 A. Christie Mystery of Blue Train ix. 65 The best train is what they call ‘The *Blue Train’. You avoid the tiresome Customs business at Calais. 1951 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IV. 46/2 Blue Train. This train, named from the colour of its cars, was originally the Calais–Mediterranean express, which carried passengers to and from the sea-side towns of the French Riviera. More recently, however, the main Blue Train has worked between Paris and Mentone..though sleeping cars run through from Calais to Mentone without a change. |
| 1893 Dartnell & Goddard Wiltshire Gloss. 14 *Blue-vinnied, covered with blue mould. |
| 1863 *Blue vinny [see finny a.2]. 1886 W. Barnes Gloss. Dorset Dial. 50 Blue-vinny, or vinnied, cheese, blue mouldy. 1895 ‘C. Hare’ Down Village Street 231 Us do want..a pen'orth o' blue-vinny cheese. 1955 J. G. Davis Dict. Dairying (ed. 2) 190 Dorset Blue cheese (also known as Blue Vinney)..is a skimmed-milk cheese. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 18 Nov. 6/3 A small stone city, set round a *blue-washed bay. 1906 Ibid. 13 Jan. 4/3 Out in the blue-washed bay. Ibid. 14 Nov. 2/1 From the blue-washed wall an unshaded lamp shone brilliantly. |
| 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 202 When we once are fairly out of harbour, and find ourselves in *blue water. 1921 Flight XIII. 387/2 There is also a hydrogen plant, of the blue water gas type, having a capacity of 200,000 cu. ft. per day of hydrogen at not less than 99·2 per cent. purity. 1944 Gloss. Terms Gas Industry (B.S.I.) 20 Blue water-gas (B.W.G.), gas consisting almost exclusively of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in nearly equal proportions. |
| 1902 Westm. Gaz. 13 Jan. 3/2 Mr. Roosevelt is revealed..as convinced a member of the *blue-water school as Mr. Clowes in England. 1908 [see sense 3]. 1966 New Statesman 25 Feb. 247/1 The differences between the Powellites and the Blue Water school on China, Vietnam, Aden [etc.]. |
Add:
[III.] [13.] blue line [(
a)] (example); (
b)
Ice Hockey (
orig. Canad.), either of the two blue-coloured lines midway between the centre of the rink and each goal (
freq. as one word).
| 1887 N.E.D., *Blue line. 1925 Gazette (Montreal) 5 Jan. 14/3 He swung through the centre and crossing the blue line drove a terrific shot at the Hamilton goal. 1964 F. Mahovlich Ice Hockey i. 15 A defender may pass the puck from behind his own blueline to any team mate providing his team mate is not beyond the centre-ice red line. 1986 New Yorker 31 Mar. 21/2 Our goalie was subjected to..slap shot after slap shot raining in from the blue line. |
blue shift, a displacement of spectral lines, resonance peaks, etc., to shorter wavelengths (representing an approaching source in astronomical cases);
= violet shift s.v. violet a. 4.
| 1961 Jrnl. Chem. Physics XXXV. 375/2 There is a *blue shift of the peak which is quite independent of the compound involved. 1965 N.Y. Times 14 Nov. iv. 7/6 A search for objects with such a blue shift is being initiated in the vicinity of Centaurus. 1979 [see red shift n.]. 1985 Sci. Amer. Sept. 36/3 A decrease, or blue shift, in the wavelength of absorption lines from a particular part of the sun's disk means that region is moving toward the observer; an increase, or red shift, means it is receding. |
hence
blue-shift v. trans., to displace in this way;
blue-shifted ppl. a.| 1966 Nature 30 July 503/1 So far, no *blue-shifted quasi-stellar radio sources have been observed while many have measured red-shifts. 1972 New Scientist 9 Nov. 318/2 The background radiation is a necessary feature of the universe. During the contracting phase of each cycle, starlight and other radiation is blueshifted to an ever-increasing degree, eventually being scrambled up in the fireball between cycles. 1973 Nature 21/28 Dec. 517/1 In general the absorbance spectra of the visual pigments of deep-water and pelagic marine animals are blueshifted compared to those of coastal and estuarine animals. 1978 Pasachoff & Kutner University Astron. xxiv. 600 If we were talking about light, this shift would be in the blue direction; even though we are discussing radio waves we say ‘blueshifted’ anyway. |
▸
Particle Physics. Of a quark: having the colour blue (
blue n.).
| 1966A. Pais in A. Zichichi Recent Devel. Particle Symmetries 406 If a baryon is made up of a red, a white and a blue quark, they are all different fermions and you thus get rid of the forced antisymmetry of the spatial wave function. 1989 R. K. Adair Great Design 265 A red quark will scare no microscopic bull, and the blue of a blue quark has nothing to do with Yale blue. 1999 Irish Times (Nexis) 28 June 9 The colour charge, like the electric charge, can also add up to zero, e.g. the proton contains a red, a green and a blue quark which add up to a colourless condition. |
▸ Designating a ski run or trail suitable (in Europe) for relative beginners or (in North America) for intermediate users, marked with a blue symbol (
cf. blue square n. at Additions) and represented on a map in blue.
Quot. 1964 refers to a former system in the United States.
| [1964 Ski Area Managem. Fall 41/1 Runs will be marked with..a blue circle for the most difficult.] 1974 H. Evans et al. We learned to Ski 33 Here is what we have found to be the general pattern of designation in Europe... Blue: easy intermediate runs which you can expect to use at the end of your first holiday. 1976 T. Brown & R. Hunter Spur Bk. Ski-ing 39 As a beginner you should follow the class, or stick to the blue runs. 1983 Financial Times 12 Mar. 11/3 There the early morning sun quickly warms you up as you ski down a magnificent long blue run with breath-taking views. 1989 Ski Nov. 81/2 Aleta is already a zippy blue run skier. 1996 Independent 28 Feb. ii. 22/2 The run, a gentle blue piste through the trees, involved plenty of poling to get to the main lifts. 2003 Myrtle Beach (S. Carolina) Sun-News (Nexis) 30 Nov. e3 We spent a few hours carving into the soft snow that still clung to the edges of blue runs like Wand and Mystery... To two snowboarders, the pitted terrain was less than appealing. |
▸
blue-arsed fly n. colloq. (in similative phrases, with reference to the bluebottle) something seemingly engaged in constant, frantic activity or movement;
esp. in
to run around like a blue-arsed fly.
| 1970 Times 22 Apr. 7/3 The Duke of Edinburgh..asked a photographer if he was getting enough pictures... ‘You have been running around like a *blue-arsed fly.’ 1987 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 20 Feb. 3 I'm always as busy as a blue-arsed fly anyway. 2000 N. Griffiths Grits (2001) 61 Runnin round Aber trine t'get rid like a blue-arsed fuckin fly. |
▸
blue-assed fly n. (also (
Eng. regional (
south-west.))
blue-assed vly)
colloq. (now chiefly
N. Amer.)
= blue-arsed fly n. at Additions.
| 1932 H. Williamson Labouring Life 20 Fast as a blue-assed vly (blowfly) in the morning.—Said of my decrepit little 6 h.p. French motor car—ironically. 1981 N.Y. Times 29 Nov. e20/1 Sirius began to stammer overhead, jittery as a blue-assed fly. 2003 Entertainm. Weekly (Nexis) 30 Apr. 34 We were all rushing around like blue-assed flies. |
▸
blue square n. N. Amer. (a symbol denoting) a ski run suitable for intermediate users;
cf. blue adj.| 1971 News Jrnl. (Mansfield, Ohio) 16 Feb. 19/3 At almost all lift houses there are National Ski Patrol signs outlining ability requirements. The easiest slope is marked with a green circle sign; the more difficult one with a *blue square and the most difficult with a black diamond. 1983 Skiing Spring 39/1 Try it first on an easy (green-circle) slope. Then, as you improve, move to more difficult (blue-square) slopes and mogul fields. 2004 Reno (Nevada) Gaz.-Jrnl. (Nexis) 15 Feb. 4 b, The Vosses consider themselves intermediate to expert skiers, so they like to tackle black diamonds as well as blue squares. |
▸
blue straggler n. Astron. a bright blue star that lies beyond the turn-off point just above the main sequence on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram of a cluster or dwarf galaxy, as if its evolution had been delayed (
cf. main adj.2).
| 1958 Astrophysical Jrnl. 128 182 Additional bright *blue ‘stragglers’ are known in the Coma berenices cluster... These bright blue stragglers are not understood on current ideas of stellar evolution. 1974 Acta Astronomica 24 359 (title) BS Scuti, possibly a blue straggler in M 11. 1991 Astronomy Dec. 22/2 The core of 47 Tucanae contains a number of stars exceptionally bright in ultraviolet light—the so-called blue stragglers. 2001 Monthly Notices Royal Astron. Soc. 324 367/2 All Galactic globular clusters that have been surveyed contain some blue stragglers. |
▪ II. blue, n. [the adj. used absol. or elliptically.] 1. Blue colour. (It may have a plural.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9920 Þe toiþer..Es al o bleu, men cals Ind. c 1500 Maid & Magpie in Halliw. Nugæ P. 43 His love was as a paynted blewe. 1599 Greene George a Gr. (1861) 258 Right Coventry blue. a 1656 Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) 59, I do not like these reds and blues. 1810 Henry Elem. Chem. (1826) I. 224 Its solution..first reddens, and then destroys, vegetable blues. 1821 Craig Lect. Drawing v. 270 Begin with the blue of the sky. 1846 Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. i. vii. §21 The blue of distance, however intense, is not the blue of a bright blue flower. |
2. a. A pigment of a blue colour: usually with some defining word prefixed, as
Prussian,
French,
cobalt,
smalt,
ultramarine,
royal. See also
blue a. 1
f.| 1724, etc. [see Prussian a. 2 a]. 1835 [see cobalt 2 a]. 1862 Handbk. Water-Col. (Winsor & Newton) 19 French blue or Imitative Ultramarine. 1862 Lond. Rev. 26 July 87 Another highly valued and brilliant variety of Prussian blue, commercially known as Turnbull's blue. |
b. spec. A blue powder used by laundresses.
| 1618 Rowlands Nt. Raven (1620) 34 Set her to starch a band, (I vow tis true) She euer spoyles the same with too much blew. 1800 New Ann. Direct. 231 Walton & Mitchel, Blue-makers, 10 Silver-street. 1822 W. Kitchiner Cook's Oracle 500 As much powder Blue as will lie on a sixpence. |
c. A cake or ball of blue powder for laundry use; also
attrib. in
blue bag, a bag containing one of these for such use (see also
quot. 1869). See also
powder-blue 1,
stone-blue 1. Hence
blue-bagged adj.| 1836 Mag. Dom. Econ. I. 6 Make also a proper flannel ‘blue-bag’. 1869 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 1098 To remove a Bee Sting, pull the sting out at once..wipe the place, suck it, and then apply the blue-bag. 1904 H. G. Wells Food of Gods i. ii. §5 She 'athen't even got a Blue Bag, Thir. 1928 Daily Express 9 Aug. 3/3 The blue bag—that truly rural remedy for wasp stings. 1953 Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1954) 72 She sees in the still middle of the bluebagged bay Nogood Boyo fishing from the Zanzibar. 1961 Coast to Coast 1959–60 128 Knobs of blue. |
3. a. Blue clothing or dress;
esp. of blue uniform,
e.g. of policemen, wounded soldiers in hospital, (
U.S.) the Northern or Union soldiers (contrasted with the Southern or Confederate grey),
spec. a kind of stuff.
| 1482 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccli. 321 The kyng..clad in blewe. 1527 MS. Invent. T. Cromwell, A rydyng cote of browne blewe weltyd with tawney vellet. 1611 Bible Ezek. xxiii. 6 The Assyrians..Which were clothed with blew. 1721 C. King Brit. Merch. II. 96 Plunkets, Violets, and Blues, formerly made in Suffolk. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. II. 53 Needham..which had a good trade once for Blues and Broad Cloths. 1831 The Olio June 341/2 A young off'sir—a likely youngster he would have been in blue, 'stead o' red. 1867 F. M. Finch in Atlantic Monthly XX. 369 (title) The Blue and the Grey. 1879 Tourgée Fool's Err. xxv. 153 He wore the blue. 1884 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Dec. 167 Answered the warder, ‘He's in blue, so he's in his last year.’ 1893 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Apr. 338/2 My little friend in blue [i.e. messenger boy]. 1918 Reveille Aug. 94 The discharged men..no longer cut the handsome gaudy figure of the man in blue. 1930 T. E. Lawrence Let. 8 Jan. (1938) 677, I haven't drawn my blue yet! 1952 R. Sherbrooke-Walker Khaki & Blue i. 9 Why ‘Khaki’ found so much to criticise in ‘Blue’. Ibid. ii. 15 From these early ‘soldiers in blue’..there was ultimately evolved..the R.A.F. Regiment. |
b. the men (gentlemen or boys) in blue: (
a) policemen; (
b) sailors; (
c) American Federal troops.
| 1851 F. Starr Twenty Yrs. Trav. Life xxxii. 317, I was not long managing my exit..whilst the ‘gentleman in blue’ was busy examining other tickets. 1857 H. Lawrence in W. Brock Biogr. Sk. Sir H. Havelock (1858) viii. 125 The gentlemen in blue—the sailors. 1866 L. P. Brockett Camp, Battle Field, etc. ii. 264 Tread lightly, oh! loyal-hearted, the boys in blue are lying there. 1866 Congress. Globe 27 Jan. 460/1 The brave ‘boys in blue’ fought manfully and through their efforts the Union has been preserved. 1868 Cassell's Mag. 8 Aug. 240/1 The man in fustian lies under certain obligations to the man in blue. 1882 Besant All Sorts xliii, You must now begin to think seriously about handcuffs and prison, and men in blue. 1943 Wyndham Lewis Let. 26 Jan. (1963) 344 He will choose..The Navy. He will plump for the boys-in-blue every time. |
4. a. Elliptically, for blue species or varieties of animals, objects, or substances, the nature of which is explained by the context,
e.g. one of the blue butterflies (
Polyommatus); a blue artificial fly used in angling; a blue potato, etc.; blue china, etc. Also applied to police and sailors.
| 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 115 The sky-coloured blue..is a neat, curious, and beautiful fly. 1838 Dickens Mem. Grimaldi ii. 22 Capturing no fewer than four dozen Dartford Blues. 1844 Hood Whimsicalities II. 186 Whether this here mobbing..Will grow to such a riot that the Oxford Blues [i.e. policemen] must quell it. 1845 Morn. Chron. 22 Nov. 5/2 The potatoes were salmons and blues. 1860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 5 On the..open downs the lovely little ‘blues’ are frisking in animated play. 1860 Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2), Blue, a policeman. 1877 W. H. Thomson Five Years' Penal Servitude iv. 257 ‘Bilking the blues,’—evading the police. 1884 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. Nov. 833/2 Bits of old Nankin ‘blue’. 1898 Kipling Fleet in Being iii. 40 Next time you see the ‘blue’ ashore you do not stare unintelligently. 1903 F. Simpson Bk. Cat xi. 126/2 As tiny kittens blues frequently exhibit tabby markings. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 62 The last one [sc. kangaroo] was a tremendous blue. |
b. A blueberry or bilberry.
U.S.| 1587 Hakluyt tr. Laudonnière's Notable Hist. 2{supr}, There are Raspisses, and a little bearie which we call among us Blues, which are very good to eate. 1709 J. Lawson New Voy. Carolina 104 The Hurts, Huckle-Berries, or Blues of this Country are four sorts... The first sort is the same Blue or Bilberry, that grows plentifully in the North of England. |
c. A ‘blue chip’ in the game of poker.
U.S.| 1890 Biff Hall Turnover Club 206 When turned to faro, You sometimes caused ‘a stack of blues’ to win. 1920 Mulford J. Nelson xxi. 228 ‘Two pairs... Well I'll see it an' add a blue.’ ‘Any time you raise a blue, you got two pairs, all right!’ |
5. a. The sky. Phrases:
out of the blue, ‘out of a clear sky’ (
cf. sky n.1), without warning, unexpectedly;
a bolt from (or out of) the blue, something unexpected, a complete surprise.
b. The sea.
| 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. App. lxxxvii. 99 Ne any footsteps in the empty Blew. 1738 Wesley Psalms cxlvii. iv, Thro' the etherial blue. 1821 Byron Cain ii. i. 144 Oh, how we cleave the blue! 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. i. 347 Arrestment, sudden really as a bolt out of the Blue, has hit strange victims. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxiv, Drown'd in yonder living blue The lark becomes a sightless song. 1861 L. L. Noble Icebergs 63 Far out upon the blue were many sails. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. IV. liv. 102 Where one may float between blue and blue. 1910 O. W. Holmes Let. 19 Dec. (1964) 58, I got an encouragement out of the blue..in the form of an honorary degree from Berlin. 1911 W. F. Butler Autobiogr. xxi. 380 Like a bolt from the blue came the news of the Jameson raid. 1919 W. T. Grenfell Labrador Doctor (1920) xx. 334 Nothing in my life ever came more ‘out of the blue’ than my marriage. 1925 ‘Sapper’ Out of the Blue i. 10 Suddenly—out of the blue—comes one disconnected event. 1930 W. S. Churchill My Early Life xiii. 178 Spontaneously and ‘out of the blue’, he formed a wish to make the acquaintance of its author. 1933 Mind XLII. 289, I do not state it out of the blue, with no reason at all. 1953 X. Fielding Stronghold iii. i. 175 Then, suddenly, out of the blue, the leading question. 1970 Times 30 Apr. 5/8 Out of the blue comes a request for information about the work of the Estimates Committee. |
6. = Blue Squadron (see
blue a. 5 b).
| 1703 [see blue a. 5 b]. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Admiral, Thus we say the Admiral of the red, the Admiral of the blue. 1806 A. Duncan Nelson 72 Sir Horatio Nelson, as rear-admiral of the blue, carried the blue flag at the mizen. |
7. pl. Applied to various companies of troops, distinguished by wearing blue.
a. The Royal Horse Guards, in 1690 distinguished from b as the ‘Oxford Blues’, from their commander, the Earl of Oxford.
b. Dutch troops of William III.
c. The troops of the French Republic of 1792.
| 1766 Wesley Jrnl. 16 July, A whole troop of the Oxford Blues..kept them in awe. 1812 Examiner 12 Oct. 652/2 The Blues are about to embark for Spain. 1813 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. X. 69, I have been appointed Colonel of the Blues. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi, While vainly endeavouring to prevail on their soldiers to look the Dutch Blues in the face. Ibid. I. 294 Another body of household cavalry distinguished by blue coats and cloaks, and still called the Blues, was..quartered in the neighbourhood of the capital. 1878 Trimen Regiments Brit. Army 12 It was also known as the ‘Blue Guards’ during the campaign in Flanders 1742–45, and is now commonly called ‘The Blues’. |
8. As the colour worn by a party or faction (identified with different principles at different times and places); hence,
transf. an adherent of such party. Also
true blue: see
blue a. 1 e, 6.
| 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 339 The blues being in the old interest, and the yellows in the new. 1762 Ibid. 442 Honest true blues, a staunch, firm, chosen band. 1790 Burns Election Ballad ix, As Queensberry blue and buff unfurl'd. 1835 Disraeli Corr. w. Sister (1886) 35 Labouchere has picked up many blues (my colour). 1881 Morley Cobden I. 91 Making citizenship into something loftier and more generous than the old strife of Blues and Yellows. |
9. Light blue and dark blue have become the distinctive colours of the representatives both of Eton and Harrow Schools, and of Cambridge and Oxford Universities, in their rival athletic contests. So the ‘Dark Blues’ denote Oxford men or Harrow boys; ‘to win his blue’, or ‘to be a Blue’, is to be chosen to represent his University or School in rowing, cricket, etc.; ‘an old Blue’ is one who has rowed or played in an inter-University contest.
| 1879 Daily News 7 Apr. 3/2 At the Creek..the Light Blues were all but clear of their opponents. 1882 ― 18 Jan. 2/2 Ainslie, of Oriel..may be successful in winning his blue. 1883 Standard 8 May 3/7 There are five ‘Old Blues’ playing. Ibid. 19 June 3/8 He has..received his ‘blue’. 1884 Q. Rev. No. 316. 485 What [Eton] boy who has ‘won his blue’, etc. |
10. A ‘Blue-coat boy’; a scholar of Christ's Hospital.
| 1834 W. Trollope (title) Christ's Hospital, with Account of the Plan of Education..and Memoirs of Eminent Blues. |
11. a. Short for ‘blue-stocking’.
| 1781 F. Burney Diary 12 June (1904) I. 498 A whole tribe of blues, with Mrs Montagu at their head. 1788 F. Burney Diary (1842) IV. 219 His literary preference of reading to a blue. 1813 Byron Br. Abydos ii. v. note, Perhaps some of our own ‘blues’ might not be worse for bleaching. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 203 The company of village literati and village blues. 1832 Disraeli Corr. w. Sister (1886) 6 There were a great many dames there of distinction, and no blues. 1849 Miss Muloch Ogilvies ii. (1875) 12 Every one talked of her as a ‘clever woman’— ‘a blue’. |
b. transf. Female learning or pedantry.
| 1824 Byron Juan xvi. xlvii, She also had a twilight tinge of ‘Blue’. |
12. the blues (for ‘
blue devils’): depression of spirits, despondency.
colloq.| 1741 D. Garrick Let. 11 July (1963) I. 26, I am far from being quite well, tho not troubled w{supt}{suph} y⊇ Blews as I have been. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 96 In a fit of the blues. 1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville K. Coventry viii. 89 The moat alone is enough to give one the ‘blues’. 1883 Harper's Mag. Dec. 55 Come to me when you have the blues. 1887 ‘J. S. Winter’ That Imp ii. 11, I wonder you and Betty don't die of the blues. 1960 New Statesman 27 Feb. 274/2 The post-election blues are beginning. |
13. Archery. (The second ring from the centre of the target is coloured blue.)
| 1882 Standard 31 Aug. 6/4 The prize for the lady making the most blues..was won by Mrs. E., who made eight blues. Ibid. The Lady Paramount's prize for most blues. |
14. = blueness 4.
Cf. blue a. 9.
| 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 446 Thread o' Blue, any little smutty touch in song-singing, chatting, or piece of writing. 1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 145/2 ‘A bit of blue’, an obscene or libidinous anecdote. |
15. U.S. The style or mood of the
blues.
Cf. blue a. 3 d.
| 1924 G. Gershwin (title of music) Rhapsody in blue. |
16. Army slang.
a. (See
quot.)
| 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 28 In the blue, failure. Something gone wrong. An attack that broke down, or troops who got out of touch, would be said to be ‘in the blue’. |
b. the blue: the desert,
spec. in N. Africa in the 1939–45 war.
| 1944 Return to Attack (Army Board, N.Z.) 9/1 Although their business address was the Western Desert, the New Zealanders were not yet ready for action. They trained hard. At intervals they disappeared ‘into the blue’ for a few days. 1958 L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari v. 83 You ought to have letters from us to our people in the blue just in case of need. 1963 Times 26 Jan. 9/6 In the 20 years since the tide of battle finally receded, ‘up the blue’, as the Desert Rats called it, has been tidied of war debris. |
17. Austral. and
N.Z. slang. a. A summons (
cf. bluey n. 4).
b. An argument; a fight or brawl.
c. A mistake or blunder.
Cf. black n. 12.
| 1941 in Baker Dict. Austral. Slang ii. |
| 1944 in L. Glassop We were Rats (Partridge Slang Suppl.). 1946 J. Morrison in Coast to Coast 156 There's a bit of a blue on, and he can hear nearly every word they say. 1953 K. Tennant Joyful Condemned iv. 37 Every time Rene comes round there's some kind of a blue. 1957 ‘N. Culotta’ They're Weird Mob (1958) iv. 54 When you get into a blue do yer pull knives? |
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 11 Blue, an error or mistake; a loss. 1957 ‘N. Shute’ On Beach i. 23, I put up a blue right away by ordering a pink gin. 1961 B. Crump Hang on a Minute, Mate 17 Trouble with you blokes is you won't admit when you've made a blue. |
▸
Particle Physics. An arbitrary choice of one colour of a set of three, analogous to the three primary colours. One of the three quark colours (
colour n.1 17).
| 1966A. Pais in A. Zichichi Recent Devel. Particle Symmetries 406 Assume you have three sets of quarks, seach an SU(6) sextet but distinguished from one another by some attribute I do not know, say red, white and blue. 1989 U. Mosel Fields, Symmetries, & Quarks ix. 156, r, g and b stand for the three colours (‘red’, ‘green’ and ‘blue’) and f represents the flavour index u, d, s etc. 2003 Nature 12 June 695 To describe the strong force we need three ‘colours’—three different types of charges, usually designated ‘red’, ‘green’ and ‘blue’. |
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Mil. (
orig. and chiefly
Brit.). With allusion to the use of the colour blue to represent a country or coalition's own military forces in maps, models, or war-gaming exercises.
blue-on-blue n. an accidental clash between elements of an army's own forces or with those of its allies; friendly fire. Freq.
attrib., designating such a conflict, or as
adj.: of, belonging to, or in alliance with one's own forces.
Cf. friendly adj. and
n. and
adv. Additions d.
| 1982S. Woodward Diary 6 June in S. Woodward & P. Robinson One Hundred Days (1992) xvii. 317 The essentially bureaucratic peacetime mind will, for the sake of avoiding a single Blue-on-Blue, cause Blue-on-Red..to cease. 1986 Times 3 Dec. 2/2 The shoot-out between two units of 45 Commando, Royal Marines, which is being highlighted, is a classic example of a ‘blue on blue’. 1990 A. Beevor Inside Brit. Army (1991) xv. 222 During the battle 4th Armoured Brigade suffered one of the war's worst disasters from ‘friendly fire’ (what British officers call a ‘blue-on-blue’ since own and friendly forces are marked in blue on maps). 1999 Airforces Monthly Oct. 60/3 Medium-range fighter attacks rely on effective radar surveillance..and on tight rules of engagement to organise the battle, overcome the fog of war and prevent blue-on-blue accidents. 2001 Navy News Sept. (Suppl.) 3/1 Sturgeon fired three blue-on-blue torpedoes at Swordfish, happily without result. |
▪ III. blue, v.1 [f. the adj.] 1. trans. To make blue;
spec. to heat (metal) so as to make it blue.
| 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas (1621) 466 Plaid the painter, when hee did so gild The turning globes, blew'd seas, and green'd the field. 1727 Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 309 To Blew Skins. 1816 W. Taylor in Month. Mag. XLI. 330 He rivets coats of mail, Or the bright sword-blade in his oven blues. 1855 Browning Statue & Bust, The blood that blues the inside arm. 1881 Greener Gun 253 Any amateur may blue by placing the pan of charcoal upon a fire, and burying the work to be blued in it. |
2. To treat (linen) with blue (see
blue n. 2 b).
| 1862 Lond. Rev. 16 Aug. 154 The articles of dress..being well starched, blued, and rough dried. |
† 3. To cause to look blue, (or ? to blush).
Obs.| 1719 Ozell tr. Misson's Trav. Eng. 170 (D.) This action set many of the company a laughing, which very much blew'd the Countess. |
† 4. intr. To blush. (
slang.)
Obs.| 1709 Steele & Swift Tatler No. 71 ¶8 If a Virgin blushes, we no longer cry she Blues. |
▪ IV. blue, v.2 slang. (
bluː)
Also
blew.
1. trans. To spend or get through (money) lavishly or extravagantly;
= blow v.
1 9 c.
| 1846 Swell's Night Guide 76 The coves..vot we blues a bob or a tanner to see. 1859 Hotten Dict. Slang. s.v. Blewed, ‘I blewed all my blunt last night’, I spent all my money. 1867 T. W. Robertson Caste 111, ‘So Papa Eccles had the money?’ ‘And blued it!’ 1884 Daily Tel. 28 May 5/1 He took to horses, and blewed the blooming lot [i.e. {pstlg}1,700] in eighteen months. 1888 Farjeon Miser Farebrother III. i. 5 You brought down two thousand pounds with you, and you blued it. 1930 W. de la Mare On Edge 228 She had taken a holiday and just blued some of her savings. 1959 Observer 17 May 8/5 Men in cotton shirts and corduroys met there to ‘blue’ their cheques on supplies and on fiery colonial rum. |
2. To make a mess of, spoil, ruin.
| 1880 Punch's Almanack 2 This top coat would blue it. |