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.
Blue (blū), 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 (blū), a.
[Compar. Bluer (-&etilde;r);
superl. Bluest.]
[OE. bla, blo,
blew, blue, livid, black, fr.
Icel.blār livid; akin to Dan.
blaa blue, Sw. blå, D. blauw, OHG. blāo,
G. blau; but influenced in form by F. bleu, from OHG.
blāo.] 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 (Zoöl.), a small South
African antelope
(Cephalophus pygmæus); also applied to a larger species (Ægoceras
leucophæus); the blaubok. -- Blue cod (Zoöl.), the buffalo cod. -- Blue crab (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.),
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.
Hear it pronounced