blue

blue [blo͞o]

adj.

[ME & OFr bleu < Frank * blao < IE base * bhlē-wos, light-colored, blue, blond, yellow > L flavus, yellow, Brythonic blawr, gray, OE blæwen, blue, Ger blau]

1. having the color of the clear sky or the deep sea

2. having a bluish cast or tinge

3. [infl. by ME blo < ON blā, livid] livid: said of the skin

4. sad and gloomy; depressed or depressing

5. balefully murky [the air was blue with oaths]

6. puritanical; rigorous

7. wearing blue garments [Blue Nuns]

8. Informal indecent; risqué; suggestive

n.

1. the color of the clear sky or the deep sea; any color between green and violet in the spectrum

2. any blue pigment or dye

3. bluing

4. anything colored blue, as the third circle of an archer's target

5.

a) blue clothing

b) [often B-] a person or group wearing a blue uniform

☆ c) [often B-] a Union soldier

d) [pl.] a sailor's blue uniform

6. BLUESTOCKING

☆ 7. BLUEFISH

8. BLUELINE usually used in pl.

vt., vi.

blued, bluing or blueing

to make or become blue

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out of the blue

as if from the sky; without being expected or foreseen

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the blue

1. the sky

2. the sea