Definition of BLUE

blue

Plural: blues

Noun

  • blue color or pigment; resembling the color of the clear sky in the daytime
    • "he had eyes of bright blue"
  • blue clothing
    • "she was wearing blue"
  • any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are blue
    • "the Union army was a vast blue"
  • the sky as viewed during daylight
    • "he shot an arrow into the blue"
  • used to whiten laundry or hair or give it a bluish tinge
  • the sodium salt of amobarbital that is used as a barbiturate; used as a sedative and a hypnotic
  • any of numerous small butterflies of the family Lycaenidae
  • 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.
  • Anything coloured blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in colour.
  • A blue dye or pigment.
  • Blue clothing.
  • Blue clothing.
  • A blue uniform. See blues.
  • Blue clothing.
  • A member of a sports team that wears blue colours; (in the plural) a nickname for the team as a whole. See also blues.
  • Blue clothing.
  • 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.
  • Blue clothing.
  • 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.
  • Blue clothing.
  • A person who has received such sporting colours.
  • Blue clothing.
  • A member of law enforcement.
  • Blue clothing.
  • A bluestocking.
  • The sky, literally or figuratively.
  • The ocean; deep waters.
  • The far distance; a remote or distant place.
  • A dog or cat with a slaty gray coat.
  • One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of five points.
  • Any of the butterflies of the subfamily Polyommatinae in the family Lycaenidae, most of which have blue on their wings.
  • A bluefish.
  • An argument or brawl.
  • A liquid with an intense blue colour, added to a laundry wash to prevent yellowing of white clothes.
  • Any of several processes to protect metal against rust.
  • A type of firecracker.
  • One of the three colour charges for quarks.
  • A member or supporter of the Conservative Party.
  • A blue cheese.
  • Risqué or pornographic material.

Verb

Verb Forms: blued, blueing, bluing, blues

  • To make or become blue in color.
  • turn blue
  • To make or become blue; to turn blue.
  • To treat the surface of steel so that it is passivated chemically and becomes more resistant to rust.
  • To brighten by treating with blue (laundry aid).
  • To fight, brawl, or argue.
  • To spend (money) extravagantly; to blow.

Adjective Satellite

  • of the color intermediate between green and violet; having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky; - Helen Hunt Jackson
    • "October's bright blue weather"
    • "a blue flame"
    • "blue haze of tobacco smoke"
  • used to signify the Union forces in the American Civil War (who wore blue uniforms)
    • "a ragged blue line"
  • filled with melancholy and despondency
    • "lonely and blue in a strange city"
  • characterized by profanity or cursing
    • "blue language"
  • suggestive of sexual impropriety
    • "a blue movie"
    • "blue jokes"
  • belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy
    • "a blue family"
    • "blue blood"
    • "the blue-blooded aristocracy"
  • morally rigorous and strict
  • causing dejection
    • "a blue day"

Adj

  • Of a blue hue.
  • Depressed, melancholic, sad.
  • Having a bluish or purplish shade to the skin due to a lack of oxygen to the normally deep-red red blood cells; cyanotic.
  • Pale, without redness or glare.
  • Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
  • Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by the Democratic Party.
  • Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
  • Supportive of or related to the Liberal Party.
  • Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
  • Supportive of or related to the Conservative Party.
  • Of, dominated by, or shifted toward the higher-frequency, or "bluer", end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
  • Having a colour charge of blue.
  • Extra rare; left very raw and cold.
  • Having a coat of fur of a slaty gray shade.
  • Severe or overly strict in morals; gloomy.
  • Literary; scholarly; bluestockinged.
  • Risqué; obscene; profane; pornographic.
  • Drunk.

Adjective

  • Of the color of the sky or sea; feeling sad.

Examples

  • a blue movie
  • blue and sour religionists;  blue laws
  • He felt blue when his opponent played a seven-letter word on his prime opening.
  • He is a true blue.
  • He was wearing a blue t-shirt.
  • His material is too blue for prime time.
  • His request for leave came out of the blue.
  • I don't like red Smarties. Have you got a blue?
  • I live in a blue constituency.  Congress turned blue in the mid-term elections.
  • Illawarra turns blue in Liberal washout
  • My hands were blue with cold.
  • She planned to blue her opponent’s chances by blocking the double letter score.
  • The air was blue with oaths.
  • The balloon floated up into the blue.
  • The candle burns blue.
  • the deep blue sea
  • The divers got them out of the car just in time – they were starting to turn blue.
  • Why is the sky blue?

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English blewe, from Anglo-Norman blew (“blue”), from Middle French bleu, from Old French blöe, bleve, blef (“blue”), from Frankish *blāu (“blue”) (perhaps through a Late Latin blāvus, blāvius (“blue”) attested from Isidore of Seville), from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlēw- (“yellow, blond, grey”).
Cognate with dialectal English blow (“blue”), Scots blue, blew (“blue”), North Frisian bla, blö (“blue”), Saterland Frisian blau (“blue”), Dutch blauw (“blue”), German blau (“blue”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish blå (“blue”), Icelandic blár (“blue”), Latin flāvus (“yellow”), French bleu (“blue”), Middle Irish blá (“yellow”). Doublet of blow.
Possibly related also to English blee (“colour”), from Old English blēo (“colour”); but direct derivatives of Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”) in Old English include: Old English blāw and blēo (“blue”), Old English blǣwen (“bluish, light-blue”), blǣhǣwen (“blue-coloured, bluish, violet or purple colour”, literally “blue-hued”). There seems to be a parallel connection in Germanic between words for blue and colour, dually exemplified by Proto-West Germanic *blīu (“colour, blee”) and *blāu (“blue”); and Proto-Germanic *hiwją (“colour, hue”) and *hēwijaz (“blue, purple”).
The sense "obscene, pornographic" is apparently from the colour; various theories exist as to how it arose, including that it is from the colour of the envelopes used to contain missives of the censors and managers to vaudevillian performers on objectionable material from their acts that needed to be excised.

Antonyms

Republican, antiblue, conservative, nonblue, red, unblue

Scrabble Score: 6

blue: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
blue: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
blue: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 9

blue: valid Words With Friends Word