blue

adjective bluer · more blue · bluest · most blue · blew · blewe

1. Of a blue hue. the deep blue sea
2. informal Depressed, melancholic, sad. “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.[…]”

   Similar: miserable, unhappy, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless, chopfallen, crestfallen

3. Having a bluish or purplish shade to the skin due to a lack of oxygen to the normally deep-red red blood cells; cyanotic. My hands were blue with cold.
4. of a flame Pale, without redness or glare. The candle burns blue.
5. US Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by the Democratic Party. I live in a blue constituency.  Congress turned blue in the mid-term elections.
6. Australian Supportive of or related to the Liberal Party. Illawarra turns blue in Liberal washout
7. UK Supportive of or related to the Conservative Party.
8. Of, dominated by, or shifted toward the higher-frequency, or "bluer", end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
9. particle Having a colour charge of blue.
10. of steak Extra rare; left very raw and cold.

    Similar: mooing

11. of a dog or cat Having a coat of fur of a slaty gray shade.
12. archaic Severe or overly strict in morals; gloomy. blue and sour religionists;  blue laws
13. archaic, of women Literary; scholarly; bluestockinged. Some of the ladies were very blue and well informed, reading Mrs. Somerville and frequenting the Royal Institution; others were severe and Evangelical, and held by Exeter Hall.
14. informal Risqué; obscene; profane; pornographic. His material is too blue for prime time.

    Similar: adult

15. dated, slang Drunk. My wine I drank and oft got blue / On brandy, gin and whisky too— / Until my reputation gay, / Along with care, was cast away —

Similar: azure, cerulean, navy, sapphire, X-rated · Opposite: nonblue, unblue, conservative, red, Republican, antiblue

noun blues · blew · blewe

1. countable, uncountable The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea; the colour midway between green and violet in the visible spectrum and one of the primary additive colours. Lady Penrhyn was quite handsome enough to have spared one ingredient in her cup of fascination, but, unfortunately, having been married in her teens, she expected to live in them, and, never being reminded by the trials to which her sex is subject, of the flight of years, and the inroads of sufferin
2. countable, uncountable Anything coloured blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in colour. I don't like red Smarties. Have you got a blue?
3. countable, uncountable A blue dye or pigment.
4. uncountable Blue clothing. The boys in blue marched to the pipers.
5. countable, in plural, uncountable A blue uniform. See blues.
6. countable, uncountable A member of a sports team that wears blue colours; (in the plural) a nickname for the team as a whole. See also blues. Come on, you blues!
7. countable, slang, uncountable An umpire, in reference to the typical dark-blue colour of the umpire's uniform. Sometimes perceived by umpires as derogatory when used by players or coaches while disputing a call. He was safe! Terrible call, blue!
8. countable, uncountable Sporting colours awarded by a university or other institution for sporting achievement, such as representing one's university, especially and originally at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England. See also full blue, half blue. He excelled at rowing and received a blue in the sport at Oxford.
9. countable, uncountable A person who has received such sporting colours. He was a rugby blue at Cambridge.
10. countable, slang, uncountable A member of law enforcement. He dialed Kathy to be sure she was okay and see if the blues arrived. She was crying when she picked up the phone. “Kathy, honey, I'm here. It'll be okay. Are the police there?”
11. countable, historical, uncountable A bluestocking.
12. countable, uncountable The sky, literally or figuratively. The balloon floated up into the blue.
13. countable, uncountable The ocean; deep waters.
14. countable, uncountable The far distance; a remote or distant place. The problem with buffalo as well as most African antelopes as a steady diet is that they have very little marbling or body fat and, after six months out in the blue, one dreams at night of a T-bone steak sizzling in great globules of yellow fat.
15. countable, uncountable A dog or cat with a slaty gray coat. On average, blues and other dilutes have weaker coats and skin problems seem more prevalent in the dilutes.
16. countable, uncountable One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of five points.
17. countable, uncountable Any of the butterflies of the subfamily Polyommatinae in the family Lycaenidae, most of which have blue on their wings. The large and handsome spectre-butterfly, Hestia durvillei; the pale-winged peacock butterfly, Drusilla catops; and the most brilliant and wonderful of the clear-winged moths, Cocytia durvillei, were especially interesting, as well, as several little "blues," equalling in brilliancy and beauty anyth
18. countable, uncountable A bluefish. When snow falls on the roses, when a mako is beheaded, when the weaks and blues swim south
19. Australia, colloquial, countable, uncountable An argument or brawl. "I had a blue with Dad," said Fay. "He wanted to drive us, I wanted to walk."
20. countable, uncountable A liquid with an intense blue colour, added to a laundry wash to prevent yellowing of white clothes. It was applied methodically, carefully, resolutely, as in the fashion of a Satin-bird with charcoal, desiccated wood or blue from laundry-bags.

    Similar: blueing, bluer

21. countable, uncountable Any of several processes to protect metal against rust.
22. UK, countable, uncountable A type of firecracker. Lord Lyttelton's Life by Dr Johnson […] which a whole tribe of Blues, with Mrs Montagu at their Head, have Vowed to execrate and revenge […]
23. countable, particle, uncountable One of the three colour charges for quarks.
24. UK, countable, uncountable A member or supporter of the Conservative Party. He is a true blue.
25. countable, uncountable A blue cheese. "No, just get over here. You need to try this one!" she exclaimed as she cheesed up a chunk of bread with one of our blues.
26. slang, uncountable Risqué or pornographic material. Improvising freely, he entered the stage with a karaoke set and introduced himself as a 'Bohemian street performer', before launching into a series of clubstyle gags and one-liners, promising 'a bit of blue for the Dads'[…]

Similar: azure, blue, cerulean, indigo, navy, royal, sky blue, ultramarine, aqua, aquamarine, cyan, teal, turquoise

verb blues · blueing · bluing · blued · blew

1. ergative To make or become blue; to turn blue. It blows, it snows, And blues your nose, My toes are all frost bitten The weather would Quite starve the crows, Or freeze the part you sit on.

   Similar: bluen

2. transitive To treat the surface of steel so that it is passivated chemically and becomes more resistant to rust.
3. transitive To brighten by treating with blue (laundry aid).
4. Australia, intransitive, slang To fight, brawl, or argue. It was years since Ken had flogged her up, but blueing with him still made her ache.

verb blues · blueing · bluing · blued · blew

1. dated, slang, transitive To spend (money) extravagantly; to blow. So far as I can see, there’s nothing to prevent you from drawing a cheque for fifty thousand and blueing the lot.

proper noun

1. A surname from German. An anglicization of German Blau.
2. rare A female given name from English, typically used in conjoined names like Bonnie Blue or Blue Bell.
3. A male nickname, occasionally used as a formal given name. (Australia) Nickname for a person with ginger hair.

noun Blues

1. A letterman at Oxford or Cambridge.
2. historical A member of the Royal Horse Guards (which merged with the 1st Dragoons in 1969) Have you heard any news / Of that chap in the Blues / Was it Prosser, or Pyecroft, or Pimm?
3. Synonym of British Blue (“a breed of cat”). This Blue shows the remarkable, sleek bodyline of the breed.

   Similar: British Blue