Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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.
Source : WordNet®
blue
adj 1: having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky;
"October's bright blue weather"- Helen Hunt Jackson;
"a blue flame"; "blue haze of tobacco smoke" [syn: {bluish},
{blueish}, {light-blue}, {dark-blue}, {blue-black}]
2: used to signify the Union forces in the Civil War (who wore
blue uniforms); "a ragged blue line"
3: low in spirits; "lonely and blue in a strange city";
"depressed by the loss of his job"; "a dispirited and
resigned expression on her face"; "downcast after his
defeat"; "feeling discouraged and downhearted" [syn: {depressed},
{dispirited}, {down(p)}, {downcast}, {downhearted}, {down
in the mouth}, {low}, {low-spirited}]
4: characterized by profanity or cursing; "foul-mouthed and
blasphemous"; "blue language"; "profane words" [syn: {blasphemous},
{profane}]
5: suggestive of sexual impropriety; "a blue movie"; "blue
jokes"; "he skips asterisks and gives you the gamy
details"; "a juicy scandal"; "a naughty wink"; "naughty
words"; "racy anecdotes"; "a risque story"; "spicy gossip"
[syn: {gamy}, {gamey}, {juicy}, {naughty}, {racy}, {risque},
{spicy}]
6: belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or
aristocracy; "an aristocratic family"; "aristocratic
Bostonians"; "aristocratic government"; "a blue family";
"blue blood"; "the blue-blooded aristocracy"; "of gentle
blood"; "patrician landholders of the American South";
"aristocratic bearing"; "aristocratic features";
"patrician tastes" [syn: {aristocratic}, {aristocratical},
{blue-blooded}, {gentle}, {patrician}]
7: morally rigorous and strict; "blue laws"; "the puritan work
ethic"; "puritanic distaste for alcohol"; "she was
anything but puritanical in her behavior" [syn: {blue(a)},
{puritan}, {puritanic}, {puritanical}]
8: causing dejection; "a blue day"; "the dark days of the war";
"a week of rainy depressing weather"; "a disconsolate
winter landscape"; "the first dismal dispiriting days of
November"; "a dark gloomy day"; "grim rainy weather" [syn:
{dark}, {depressing}, {disconsolate}, {dismal}, {dispiriting},
{gloomy}, {grim}]
[also: {bluest}, {bluer}]
blue
n 1: the color of the clear sky in the daytime; "he had eyes of
bright blue" [syn: {blueness}]
2: blue clothing; "she was wearing blue"
3: any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are blue;
"the Union army was a vast blue"
4: the sky as viewed during daylight; "he shot an arrow into
the blue" [syn: {blue sky}, {blue air}, {wild blue yonder}]
5: used to whiten laundry or hair or give it a bluish tinge
[syn: {bluing}, {blueing}]
6: the sodium salt of amobarbital that is used as a
barbiturate; used as a sedative and a hypnotic [syn: {amobarbital
sodium}, {blue angel}, {blue devil}, {Amytal}]
7: any of numerous small chiefly blue butterflies of the family
Lycaenidae
[also: {bluest}, {bluer}]
blue
v : turn blue
[also: {bluest}, {bluer}]
bluer
See {blue}