[syn: blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim, sorry, drab, drear, dreary]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Blue \Blue\ (bl[=u]), a. [Compar. Bluer (bl[=u]"[~e]r);
superl. Bluest.] [OE. bla, blo, blew, blue, livid, black,
fr. Icel.bl[=a]r livid; akin to Dan. blaa blue, Sw. bl[*a],
D. blauw, OHG. bl[=a]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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
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3. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue.
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4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as,
thongs looked blue. [Colloq.]
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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.
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6. Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of
bluestocking. [Colloq.]
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The ladies were very blue and well informed.
--Thackeray.
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Blue asbestus. See Crocidolite.
Blue black, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost
black.
Blue blood. See under Blood.
Blue buck (Zool.), a small South African antelope
(Cephalophus pygm[ae]us); also applied to a larger
species ([AE]goceras leucoph[ae]us); the blaubok.
Blue cod (Zool.), the buffalo cod.
Blue crab (Zool.), 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 Blue mould, the blue fungus (Aspergillus
glaucus) which grows on cheese. --Brande & C.
Blue Monday,
(a) a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself
given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent).
(b) a Monday considered as depressing because it is a
workday in contrast to the relaxation of the weekend.
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 (Zool.), 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.
Big Blue, the International Business Machines corporation.
[Wall Street slang.] PJC
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.
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For his religion . . .
'T was Presbyterian, true blue. --Hudibras.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Blue \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; as, to fly off into the
blue.
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2. A pedantic woman; a bluestocking. [Colloq.]
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3. pl. [Short for blue devils.] Low spirits; a fit of
despondency; melancholy. [Colloq.]
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Berlin blue, Prussian blue.
Mineral blue. See under Mineral.
Prussian blue. See under Prussian.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Blue \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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Cod \Cod\, n. [Cf. G. gadde, and (in Heligoland) gadden, L.
gadus merlangus.] (Zool.)
An important edible fish (Gadus morrhua), taken in immense
numbers on the northern coasts of Europe and America. It is
especially abundant and large on the Grand Bank of
Newfoundland. It is salted and dried in large quantities.
[1913 Webster]
Note: There are several varieties; as shore cod, from
shallow water; bank cod, from the distant banks; and
rock cod, which is found among ledges, and is often
dark brown or mottled with red. The tomcod is a
distinct species of small size. The bastard, blue,
buffalo, or cultus cod of the Pacific coast belongs
to a distinct family. See Buffalo cod, under
Buffalo.
[1913 Webster]
Cod fishery, the business of fishing for cod.
Cod line, an eighteen-thread line used in catching codfish.
--McElrath.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
blue
adj 1: of the color intermediate between green and violet;
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: blue,
bluish, blueish]
2: used to signify the Union forces in the American Civil War
(who wore blue uniforms); "a ragged blue line"
3: filled with melancholy and despondency ; "gloomy at the
thought of what he had to face"; "gloomy predictions"; "a
gloomy silence"; "took a grim view of the economy"; "the
darkening mood"; "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:
gloomy, grim, blue, 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, blue, 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: blue,
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,
blue-blooded, gentle, patrician]
7: morally rigorous and strict; "the puritan work ethic";
"puritanic distaste for alcohol"; "she was anything but
puritanical in her behavior" [syn: blue(a), 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: blue,
dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim,
sorry, drab, drear, dreary]
n 1: blue color or pigment; resembling the color of the clear
sky in the daytime; "he had eyes of bright blue" [syn:
blue, 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, blue air, wild blue
yonder]
5: used to whiten laundry or hair or give it a bluish tinge
[syn: bluing, blueing, blue]
6: the sodium salt of amobarbital that is used as a barbiturate;
used as a sedative and a hypnotic [syn: amobarbital sodium,
blue, blue angel, blue devil, Amytal]
7: any of numerous small butterflies of the family Lycaenidae
v 1: turn blue
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
332 Moby Thesaurus words for "blue":
Alice blue, Amytal, Amytal pill, Brunswick blue, Caelus,
Capri blue, Chinese blue, Copenhagen blue, Demerol, Dolophine,
Dresden blue, Fescennine, French blue, Gobelin blue, H, Luminal,
Luminal pill, M, Mickey Finn, Nembutal, Nembutal pill,
Persian blue, Pompeian blue, Prussian blue, Rabelaisian, Saxe blue,
Seconal, Seconal pill, Tuinal, Tuinal pill, Wedgwood blue, X,
absolute, air, alcohol, amobarbital sodium, analgesic,
aniline blue, anodyne, aquamarine, atrabiliar, atrabilious,
azo blue, azulene, azure, azure-blue, azure-colored, azurean,
azured, azureness, azureous, azurite blue, baby blue, bad, barb,
barbiturate, barbiturate pill, bawdy, benzoazurine, beryl,
beryl-blue, berylline, bice, black, black stuff, bleu celeste,
blue angel, blue devil, blue heaven, blue sky, blue turquoise,
blue velvet, blueness, blueprint, bluish, bluishness, brine, briny,
broad, cadaverous, cadet blue, caelum, calamine blue, calmative,
canopy, canopy of heaven, cerulean, ceruleous, cerulescent,
chloral hydrate, ciba blue, coarse, cobalt, codeine,
codeine cough syrup, cold-type proof, color proof, complete,
computer proof, cope, cornflower, corpselike, crestfallen, cyan,
cyanean, cyanine blue, cyanosis, dark-blue, deadly, deathlike,
deathly, deathly pale, deep, deep-blue, dejected, delft blue,
depressant, depressed, depressor, despondent, dirty, disconsolate,
dismal, dispirited, dolly, down, downcast, downer, downhearted,
downright, drink, eerie, empyrean, erotic, ether, filthy,
firmament, foul, foul-mouthed, foul-spoken, foul-tongued,
foundry proof, fulsome, funky, galley, galley proof, garter blue,
ghastly, ghostlike, ghostly, glaucous blue, gloomy, glum, goofball,
grisly, gruesome, haggard, hard stuff, heaven, heavens, heroin,
hop, horse, hyacinth, hyaline, hypnotic, improper, impure,
indecent, indelicate, indigo, indigo white, infernal, isamine blue,
ithyphallic, jouvence blue, junk, knockout drops,
lapis lazuli blue, laudanum, lavender blue, lewd, lift, lifts,
light-blue, lightish-blue, liquor, livid, lividity, lividness,
lotus, low, low-spirited, lurid, macabre, madder blue, main,
marine blue, melancholic, melancholy, meperidine, methadone,
methylene azure, methylene blue, morose, morphia, morphine,
mortuary, narcotic, nasty, navy, navy blue, new blue, obscene,
off color, off-color, offensive, old blue, opiate, opium,
out-and-out, pacifier, page proof, pain killer, pale, paregoric,
pavonian, pavonine, peacock blue, peacock-blue, pen yan, pensive,
perfect, phenobarbital, phenobarbital sodium, plate proof,
pompadour green, pornographic, positive, powder blue, press proof,
progressive proof, proof, proof sheet, pull, purple, purple heart,
quietener, racy, rainbow, raunchy, red, regular, repro proof,
revise, ribald, risque, sad, salacious, salty, sapphire,
sapphirine, scag, scurrile, scurrilous, sea, sea blue,
secobarbital sodium, sedative, sexy, shady, shit, sky, sky blue,
sky-blue, sky-colored, sky-dyed, sleep-inducer, sleeper,
sleeping draught, sleeping pill, slip, smack, smalt, smoke blue,
smoking-room, smutty, sodium thiopental, somnifacient, soother,
soothing syrup, soporific, spicy, starry heaven, steel blue,
stone proof, suggestive, sultry, tar, the blue, the blue serene,
titillating, tranquilizer, trial impression, tristful, trypan blue,
turps, turquoise, ultramarine, uncanny, unchaste, unclean,
unearthly, unhappy, unprintable, unrepeatable, vandyke, vault,
vault of heaven, vile, vulgar, wan, weird, welkin, white stuff,
wicked, wistful, woad, woebegone, yellow, yellow jacket, zaffer
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
Blue
A language proposed by Softech to meet the DoD Ironman
requirements which led to Ada. ["On the BLUE Language
Submitted to the DoD", E.W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices
13(10):10-15 (Oct 1978)].
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:
Blue
generally associated with purple (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36, etc.).
It is supposed to have been obtained from a shellfish of the
Mediterranean, the Helix ianthina of Linnaeus. The robe of the
high priest's ephod was to be all of this colour (Ex. 28:31),
also the loops of the curtains (26:4) and the ribbon of the
breastplate (28:28). Blue cloths were also made for various
sacred purposes (Num. 4:6, 7, 9, 11, 12). (See COLOUR.)