Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Blue?

\Blue\, a. [Compar. {Bluer}; superl. {Bluest}.] [OE. bla, blo, blew, blue, Sw. bl?, D. blauw, OHG. bl?o, G. blau; but influenced in form by F. bleu, from OHG. bl[=a]o.] 1. Having the color of the clear sky, or a hue resembling it, whether lighter or darker; as, the deep, blue sea; as blue as a sapphire; blue violets. ``The blue firmament.'' --Milton. 2. Pale, without redness or glare, -- said of a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths. 3. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue. 4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [Colloq.] 5. Severe or over strict in morals; gloom; as, blue and sour religionists; suiting one who is over strict in morals; inculcating an impracticable, severe, or gloomy mortality; as, blue laws. 6. Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of bluestocking. [Colloq.] The ladies were very blue and well informed. --Thackeray. {Blue asbestus}. See {Crocidolite}. {Blue black}, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black. {Blue blood}. See under {Blood}. {Blue buck} (Zo["o]l.), a small South African antelope ({Cephalophus pygm[ae]us}); also applied to a larger species ({[AE]goceras leucoph[ae]u}s); the blaubok. {Blue cod} (Zo["o]l.), the buffalo cod. {Blue crab} (Zo["o]l.), the common edible crab of the Atlantic coast of the United States ({Callinectes hastatus}). {Blue curls} (Bot.), a common plant ({Trichostema dichotomum}), resembling pennyroyal, and hence called also {bastard pennyroyal}. {Blue devils}, apparitions supposed to be seen by persons suffering with {delirium tremens}; hence, very low spirits. ``Can Gumbo shut the hall door upon blue devils, or lay them all in a red sea of claret?'' --Thackeray. {Blue gage}. See under {Gage}, a plum. {Blue gum}, an Australian myrtaceous tree ({Eucalyptus globulus}), of the loftiest proportions, now cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions for its timber, and as a protection against malaria. The essential oil is beginning to be used in medicine. The timber is very useful. See {Eucalyptus}. {Blue jack}, {Blue stone}, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper. {Blue jacket}, a man-of war's man; a sailor wearing a naval uniform. {Blue jaundice}. See under {Jaundice}. {Blue laws}, a name first used in the eighteenth century to describe certain supposititious laws of extreme rigor reported to have been enacted in New Haven; hence, any puritanical laws. [U. S.] {Blue light}, a composition which burns with a brilliant blue flame; -- used in pyrotechnics and as a night signal at sea, and in military operations. {Blue mantle} (Her.), one of the four pursuivants of the English college of arms; -- so called from the color of his official robes. {Blue mass}, a preparation of mercury from which is formed the blue pill. --McElrath. {Blue mold}, or mould, the blue fungus ({Aspergillus glaucus}) which grows on cheese. --Brande & C. {Blue Monday}, a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). {Blue ointment} (Med.), mercurial ointment. {Blue Peter} (British Marine), a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to recall boats, etc. It is a corruption of blue repeater, one of the British signal flags. {Blue pill}. (Med.) (a) A pill of prepared mercury, used as an aperient, etc. (b) Blue mass. {Blue ribbon}. (a) The ribbon worn by members of the order of the Garter; -- hence, a member of that order. (b) Anything the attainment of which is an object of great ambition; a distinction; a prize. ``These [scholarships] were the --blue ribbon of the college.'' --Farrar. (c) The distinctive badge of certain temperance or total abstinence organizations, as of the --Blue ribbon Army. {Blue ruin}, utter ruin; also, gin. [Eng. Slang] --Carlyle. {Blue spar} (Min.), azure spar; lazulite. See {Lazulite}. {Blue thrush} (Zo["o]l.), a European and Asiatic thrush ({Petrocossyphus cyaneas}). {Blue verditer}. See {Verditer}. {Blue vitriol} (Chem.), sulphate of copper, a violet blue crystallized salt, used in electric batteries, calico printing, etc. {Blue water}, the open ocean. {To look blue}, to look disheartened or dejected. {True blue}, genuine and thorough; not modified, nor mixed; not spurious; specifically, of uncompromising Presbyterianism, blue being the color adopted by the Covenanters. For his religion . . . 'T was Presbyterian, true blue. --Hudibras.
\Blue\ (bl[=u]), n. 1. One of the seven colors into which the rays of light divide themselves, when refracted through a glass prism; the color of the clear sky, or a color resembling that, whether lighter or darker; a pigment having such color. Sometimes, poetically, the sky. 2. A pedantic woman; a bluestocking. [Colloq.] 3. pl. [Short for blue devils.] Low spirits; a fit of despondency; melancholy. [Colloq.] {Berlin blue}, Prussian blue. {Mineral blue}. See under {Mineral}. {Prussian blue}. See under {Prussian}.
\Blue\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Blued}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Bluing}.] To make blue; to dye of a blue color; to make blue by heating, as metals, etc.