Blue (blū), a.
[Compar. Bluer (-ẽr);
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.