blue
IPA: bɫˈu
noun
- (countable and uncountable) The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea, between green and purple in the visible spectrum, and one of the primary additive colours for transmitted light; the colour obtained by subtracting red and green from white light using magenta and cyan filters; or any colour resembling this.
- Anything coloured blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in color.
- A blue dye or pigment.
- (uncountable) Blue clothing.
- (in the plural) A blue uniform. See blues.
- A member of a sports team that wears blue colours; (in the plural) a nickname for the team as a whole. See also blues.
- (baseball, slang) An umpire, in reference to the typical dark blue color of the umpire's uniform. Sometimes perceived by umpires as derogatory when used by players or coaches while disputing a call.
- 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.
- A person who has received such sporting colours.
- (slang) A member of law enforcement.
- (now historical) 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.
- (snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of five points.
- (entomology) Any of the butterflies of the subfamily Polyommatinae in the family Lycaenidae, most of which have blue on their wings.
- A bluefish.
- (Australia, colloquial) 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.
- (Britain) A type of firecracker.
- (particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.
- (UK) A member or supporter of the Conservative Party.
- A surname from German. An anglicization of German Blau.
- (rare) A female given name from English, typically used in conjoined names like Bonnie Blue or Blue Bell.
- A male nickname, occasionally used as a formal given name.
- A letterman at Oxford or Cambridge.
- (historical) A member of the Royal Horse Guards (which merged with the 1st Dragoons in 1969)
- Synonym of British Blue (“a breed of cat”)
verb
- (ergative) To make or become blue; to turn blue.
- (transitive, metallurgy) To treat the surface of steel so that it is passivated chemically and becomes more resistant to rust.
- (transitive, laundry) To brighten by treating with blue (laundry aid).
- (intransitive, Australia, slang) To fight, brawl, or argue.
- (transitive, slang, dated) To spend (money) extravagantly; to blow.
adjective
- Having blue as its color.
- (informal) Depressed, melancholic, sad.
- Having a bluish or purplish shade of the skin due to a lack of oxygen to the normally deep red blood cells.
- Pale, without redness or glare; said of a flame.
- (politics) Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
- (US politics) Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by the Democratic Party.
- (Australian politics) Supportive of or related to the Liberal Party.
- (UK politics) Supportive of or related to the Conservative Party.
- (astronomy) Of the higher-frequency region of the part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.
- (of steak) Extra rare; left very raw and cold.
- (of a dog or cat) Having a coat of fur of a slaty gray shade.
- (archaic) Severe or overly strict in morals; gloomy.
- (archaic, of women) literary; bluestockinged.
- (particle physics) Having a color charge of blue.
- (informal) Risqué; obscene; profane; pornographic.
- (slang, dated) Drunk.
Examples of "blue" in Sentences
- The color of the ribbon was blue.
- The rest of the flag is colored blue.
- The wings are black with a sheen of blue.
- The atmospheric color listed in the article is blue.
- The analogy is between the cartoon and the color blue.
- The inside of the shell is an iridescent blue and green.
- Buff and blue are the colors of the Quartermaster Corps.
- The blue color of the ribbon symbolizes the color of bruises.
- The mascot is the husky and colors are navy blue and columbia blue.
- Blua libro (_or_ libro blua), _a blue book_; bluaj libroj, _blue books_.
- The shirt was green and blue plaid, and the pants were these black skinnies.
- Light blue is more specific than ˜blue™ which is more specific than ˜colored.™
- Except her dress, which happened to be blue, there appeared to be nothing else _blue_ about her.
- Palestine -- one sort is particularized as _white_ with a dark blue spot and streak -- the water lily, lotos, which I think I meant, is _blue_ altogether.
- Whether the blue devils were flying around or not, I could not exactly discover, but the whiskey and _blue ruin_ were evidently powerful in their effects.
- The blue stains, the lines for corrections, etc., are erased with the the potassic oxalate (_blue salving, _ as it is termed) whose formula has been given.
- Mr. Browning answered, "Lilies are of all colors in Palestine -- one sort is particularized as _white_ with a dark blue spot and streak -- the water lily, lotus, which I think I meant, is _blue_ altogether."
- It is scarcely more previous than the underlying limestones, and why a solution that could penetrate and leach ores from it should be stopped at the upper surface of the blue limestone is not obvious; nor why the plane of junction between the porphyry and the _blue limestone_ should be the special place of deposit of the ore.
- Now there is something exceedingly captivating in a pair of soft blue eyes -- not that there may not be something quite as captivating in a pair of brown or black or grey eyes -- but there is something singularly captivating in the peculiar style of captivation wherewith a man is captivated by a pair of blue -- distinctly _blue_ -- eyes.
- I saw a picture not long since, in Edinburgh, copied from an engraving in Boydell's Shakspeare; subject, -- "Lear (and suite) in the storm," but coloured according to the imagination and taste of the artist; its name ought assuredly to have been _Redcap and the blue-devils_, for the venerable and lamented monarch had fine streaming locks of the real _carrot hue_, whilst his very hideous companions showed _blue_ faces, and blue armour; and with their strangely contorted bodies seemed meet representatives of some of the infernal court.