Blue

Blue, blōō, n. the colour of the sky when unclouded—hence the sea, the sky, as in 'a bolt from the blue:' one of the seven primary colours.—adj. of the colour blue: learned, pedantic: indecent or obscene, as in blue stories.—ns. Blue′-beard, a monster who murders a series of wives in Perrault's famous conte, before he is himself cut off: one who is 'unfortunate' with his wives after the fashion of Henry VIII.; Blue′bell, a plant that bears blue bell-shaped flowers; Blue′-bird, a small American bird akin to the warblers; Blue′-black, black with a tinge of blue; Blue′-book, the name popularly applied to the reports and other papers printed by parliament, because usually stitched up in blue paper wrappers; Blue′-bot′tle, a common name for the Blue Cornflower: a familiar name for a policeman or beadle; Blue′-cap, a fish of the salmon kind with blue spots on its head: the blue titmouse: (Shak.) a Scotchman, from his blue bonnet; Blue′-eye, a beautiful little bird in New South Wales, one or the honey-eaters; Blue′-fish, a fish of the family Scomberidæ, abundant on the east coast of North America.—n.pl. Blue′-gowns, the name commonly given to a former class of privileged mendicants in Scotland—called also the King's Bedesmen.—ns. Blue′-grass, a permanent grass found in Europe and North America; Blue′-gum, a kind of Eucalyptus; Blue′-jack′et, a seaman in the navy, as distinguished from a marine; Blue′-jay, a common North American bird of the [Image: Blue-peter.] jay family; Blue′ness; Blue′-nose, a nickname for a Nova Scotian; Blue′-pē′ter, a blue flag with white square in the centre, used in the navy as a signal for sailing; Blue′pill, a mercurial pill, used as a purgative in cases of torpid or inflamed liver; Blue′-stock′ing, a name given to learned ladies who display their acquirements in a pedantic manner, to the neglect of womanly graces—about 1750 Mrs Montague and others began to substitute literary conversation for cards, and the name implying a disregard for the conventional costume of polite society was suggested by the blue stockings of Benjamin Stillingfleet—the French bas bleu is a translation; Blue′-stone, blue copperas, sulphate of copper; Blue′-throat, or Blue′-breast, a beautiful and melodious bird, nearly allied to the nightingale; Blue′-wing, a kind of duck, either a sub-genus of Anas, or a special genus Cyanopterus—the best-known species, the Common or Lunate Blue-wing, the Blue-winged Teal of the United States.—adj. Blū′ish, slightly blue.—Blue blood, aristocratic blood—the sangre azul of the Spanish hidalgoes; Blue bonnet, a round flat cap of blue woollen, much worn in Scotland: a blue-bonneted Scotch peasant or soldier; Blue-bottle fly, the meat-fly or blow-fly; Blue-coat boy, a scholar of Christ's Hospital—also (from the blue coat having formerly been the usual dress of servants) a servant, beadle, soldier; Blue devil, an evil demon: (pl.) deep despondency, the apparitions seen in delirium tremens; Blue funk (slang), great terror; Blue ribbon, a term applied to any great prize, as the Derby stakes—from the blue ribbon worn by Knights of the Garter: the badge assumed by the so-called Blue Ribbon Army introduced from America in 1878; Blue water, the deep sea, as opposed to port or a narrow channel.—Light blue, and Dark blue, the distinctive colours in their athletic contests of Eton and Cambridge, and of Harrow and Oxford respectively; The Blues, the Royal Horse Guards; The blues (for blue devils), a colloquial expression for depression of spirits.—To be a blue, to be chosen to represent Oxford or Cambridge at an inter-university contest in cricket, football, rowing, or athletics; An old blue, one once so chosen.—To drink till all's blue, until everything around one looks blue; To look blue, to be down-spirited.—True blue, faithful to the principles of the political party wearing blue as its colour, in many places identified with Conservative. [M. E. blew—O. Fr. bleu, of Teut. origin; as also Scand. blá, which gave M. E. bla, blo, and modern blae.]