blue1
adj.
(bluer, bluest)
- of a colour intermediate between green and violet, as of the sky or sea on a sunny day.
▸(of a cat, fox, or rabbit) having fur of a smoky grey colour.
- informal melancholy, sad, or depressed.
- informal (of a film, joke, or story) with sexual or pornographic content.
- Brit. informal politically conservative.
- (of a ski run) of the second-lowest level of difficulty.
n.
- blue colour, pigment, or material.
▸
(the blue)
literary the sky or sea, or the unknown.
▸another term for bluing.
- Brit. a person who has represented Cambridge University or Oxford University in a particular sport in a match between the two universities.
- used in names of small butterflies with predominantly blue wings.
[Polyommatus icarus (common blue) and related species.]
- Austral./NZ informal a nickname for a red-headed person.
- Austral./NZ informal an argument or fight.
v.
(blues, bluing or blueing, blued)
- make or become blue.
- chiefly historical wash (white clothes) with bluing.
Phrase
- blue on blue
Military denoting or relating to an attack made by one's own side that accidentally harms one's own forces:![]()
blue-on-blue incidents.
[from the use of blue to indicate friendly forces in military exercises.]
- once in a blue moon
informal very rarely.
[because a ‘blue moon’ is a phenomenon (due to atmospheric dust) that occurs only very rarely.]
- out of the blue
(or out of a clear blue sky)
informal without warning; unexpectedly.
- talk a blue streak
N. Amer. informal speak continuously and at great length.
Derivative
Etymology
ME: from OFr. bleu, ult. of Gmc origin.
blue2
v.
(blues, bluing or blueing, blued)
Brit. informal, dated squander or spend recklessly.
Etymology
C19: perh. a var. of blow1.
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