blue
adjective
\ ˈblü
\
\
bluer;
bluest
Definition of blue
(Entry 1 of 3)
1
: of the color whose hue is that of the clear sky : of the color blue (see blue entry 2 sense 1)
a blue jacket her bright blue eyes The house is blue with white shutters.
2a
: bluish
the blue haze of tobacco smoke
b
: discolored by or as if by bruising
blue with cold
c
: bluish gray
a blue cat
3a
: low in spirits : melancholy
has been feeling blue
b
: marked by low spirits : depressing
a blue funk things looked blue
4
: wearing blue
the blue team
5
of a woman
: learned, intellectual
… the ladies were very blue and well-informed …— W. M. Thackeray
6
: puritanical
… a blue Sunday city …— James Street
9
US politics
: tending to support Democratic candidates or policies
As has become increasingly clear over the past few general elections, with their red states and blue states, an American Presidential campaign is no longer truly national.— Hendrik Hertzberg
— compare purple sense 3, red sense 5
blue in the face
: extremely exasperated
argued until he was blue in the face
blue
nounDefinition of blue (Entry 2 of 3)
1
: a color whose hue is that of the clear sky or that of the portion of the color spectrum lying between green and violet
Blue is his favorite color. shades of blue
2a
: a pigment or dye that colors blue
b
: bluing
adding blue to the laundry
3a
: blue clothing or cloth
will be wearing blue
b
blues plural
: a blue costume or uniform
wearing their dress blues
4a
: a Union soldier in the American Civil War
b
often capitalized
: the Union army
the Blue versus the Gray
6
: a blue object
7
: bluestocking
praised the writings of her fellow blues
8
biology
: any of numerous small chiefly blue butterflies (family Lycaenidae)
9
: bluefish
fishing for blues
10
: blue cheese
11
physics
: one of the three colors (see color entry 1 sense 15) that quarks have in the theory of quantum chromodynamics
One cannot have a single quark on its own because it would have a color (red, green, or blue). Instead, a red quark has to be joined to a green and a blue quark by a "string" of gluons (red + green + blue = white). Such a triplet constitutes a proton or a neutron.— Stephen Hawking
out of the blue
: without advance notice : unexpectedly
the job offer came out of the blue
blue
verb
blued;
blueing
or bluing;
blues
Definition of blue (Entry 3 of 3)
: to make (something) blue in color: such as
a
: to dye, tint, or paint (something) blue
Last, the generation of the grandmothers, in immaculately blued hair…— John Updike Tattoos blued his upper arms.— Jerry Spinelli
b
: to heat (iron or steel) to about 550 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit so that it acquires a protective bluish coating
the blued barrel of the gun Between banks shrouded with snow, the river gleamed darkly, like blued steel with gold chips of sunlight dancing on each riffle.— Pete Bodo
: to turn blue
their blueing fingers
blue the air
informal
: to curse angrily
He sliced the air with his fists and blued the air with his mouth.— Steve Kelley I have been stealing my father's copy (of Massachusetts Wildlife) for a long time, but last week he found an issue on my desk and blued the air a bit.— Stephen King Donovan
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