Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter B - Page 58
Blue (a.) 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.
Blue (a.) 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 (Zool.), A small South African antelope ({Cephalophus pygm[ae]us); also applied to a larger species ({[AE]goceras leucoph[ae]us); the blaubok.
Blue cod (Zool.), The buffalo cod.
Blue crab (Zool.), 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 Blue mould, The blue fungus ({Aspergillus glaucus) which grows on cheese. -- Brande & C.
Blue Monday, (a) A Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent).
Blue Monday, (b) A Monday considered as depressing because it is a workday in contrast to the relaxation of the weekend.
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.
Blue pill. (Med.) (b) Blue mass.
Blue ribbon. (a) The ribbon worn by members of the order of the Garter; -- hence, a member of that order.
Blue ribbon. (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.
Blue ribbon. (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 (Zool.), 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.
Big Blue, The International Business Machines corporation. [Wall Street slang.]
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.
Blue (n.) One of the seven colors into which the rays of light divide themselves, when refracted through a glass prism; the color of the clear sky, or a color resembling that, whether lighter or darker; a pigment having such color. Sometimes, poetically, the sky; as, to fly off into the blue.
Blue (n.) A pedantic woman; a bluestocking. [Colloq.]
Blue (n. pl.) [Short for blue devils.]
Low
spirits; a fit of despondency; melancholy. [Colloq.]
Berlin blue, Prussian blue.
Mineral blue. See under Mineral.
Prussian blue. See under Prussian.
Blued (imp. & p. p.) of Blue.
Bluing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Blue.
Blue (v. t.) To make blue; to dye of a blue color; to make blue by heating, as metals, etc.
Blue (a.) Of the color intermediate between green and violet; having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky; "October's bright blue weather"- Helen Hunt Jackson; "a blue flame"; "blue haze of tobacco smoke" [syn: blue, bluish, blueish].
Blue (a.) Used to signify the Union forces in the American Civil War (who wore blue uniforms); "a ragged blue line".
Blue (a.) Filled with melancholy and despondency ; "gloomy at the thought of what he had to face"; "gloomy predictions"; "a gloomy silence"; "took a grim view of the economy"; "the darkening mood"; "lonely and blue in a strange city"; "depressed by the loss of his job"; "a dispirited and resigned expression on her face"; "downcast after his defeat"; "feeling discouraged and downhearted" [syn: gloomy, grim, blue, depressed, dispirited, down(p), downcast, downhearted, down in the mouth, low, low-spirited].
Blue (a.) Characterized by profanity or cursing; "foul-mouthed and blasphemous"; "blue language"; "profane words" [syn: blasphemous, blue, profane].
Blue (a.) Suggestive of sexual impropriety; "a blue movie"; "blue jokes"; "he skips asterisks and gives you the gamy details"; "a juicy scandal"; "a naughty wink"; "naughty words"; "racy anecdotes"; "a risque story"; "spicy gossip" [syn: blue, gamy, gamey, juicy, naughty, racy, risque, spicy].
Blue (a.) Belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy; "an aristocratic family"; "aristocratic Bostonians"; "aristocratic government"; "a blue family"; "blue blood"; "the blue-blooded aristocracy"; "of gentle blood"; "patrician landholders of the American South"; "aristocratic bearing"; "aristocratic features"; "patrician tastes" [syn: aristocratic, aristocratical, blue, blue-blooded, gentle, patrician].
Blue (a.) Morally rigorous and strict; "the puritan work ethic"; "puritanic distaste for alcohol"; "she was anything but puritanical in her behavior" [syn: blue(a), puritanic, puritanical].
Blue (a.) Causing dejection; "a blue day"; "the dark days of the war"; "a week of rainy depressing weather"; "a disconsolate winter landscape"; "the first dismal dispiriting days of November"; "a dark gloomy day"; "grim rainy weather" [syn: blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim, sorry, drab, drear, dreary].
Blue (n.) Blue color or pigment; resembling the color of the clear sky in the daytime; "he had eyes of bright blue" [syn: blue, blueness].
Blue (n.) Blue clothing; "she was wearing blue".
Blue (n.) Any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are blue; "the Union army was a vast blue".
Blue (n.) The sky as viewed during daylight; "he shot an arrow into the blue" [syn: blue sky, blue, blue air, wild blue yonder].
Blue (n.) Used to whiten laundry or hair or give it a bluish tinge [syn: bluing, blueing, blue].
Blue (n.) The sodium salt of amobarbital that is used as a barbiturate; used as a sedative and a hypnotic [syn: amobarbital sodium, blue, blue angel, blue devil, Amytal].
Blue (n.) Any of numerous small butterflies of the family Lycaenidae.
Blue (v.) Turn blue.
Blueback (n.) A trout (Salmo oquassa) inhabiting some of the lakes of Maine.
Blueback (n.) A salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) of the Columbia River and northward.
Blueback (n.) An American river herring (Clupea aestivalis), closely allied to the alewife.
Bluebeard (n.) The hero of a mediaeval French nursery legend, who, leaving home, enjoined his young wife not to open a certain room in his castle. She entered it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. -- Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate.
Bluebell (n.) A plant of the genus Campanula, especially the Campanula rotundifolia, which bears blue bell-shaped flowers; the harebell.
Bluebell (n.) A plant of the genus Scilla (Scilla nutans).
Blueberry (n.) The berry of several species of Vaccinium, an ericaceous genus, differing from the American huckleberries in containing numerous minute seeds instead of ten nutlets. The commonest species are V. Pennsylvanicum and V. vacillans. V. corymbosum is the tall blueberry.
Bluebill (n.) A duck of the genus Fuligula. Two American species (F. marila and F. affinis) are common. See Scaup duck.
Bluebird (n.) A small song bird (Sialia sialis), very common in the United States, and, in the north, one of the earliest to arrive in spring. The male is blue, with the breast reddish. It is related to the European robin.
Blue bonnet (n.) Alt. of Blue-bonnet.
Blue-bonnet (n.) A broad, flat Scottish cap of blue woolen, or one wearing such cap; a Scotchman.
Blue-bonnet (n.) A plant. Same as Bluebottle.
Blue-bonnet (n.) The European blue titmouse (Parus coeruleus); the bluecap.
Blue book () A parliamentary publication, so called from its blue paper covers.
Blue book () The United States official "Biennial Register."
Bluebottle (n.) A plant (Centaurea cyanus) which grows in grain fields. It receives its name from its blue bottle-shaped flowers.
Bluebottle (n.) A large and troublesome species of blowfly (Musca vomitoria). Its body is steel blue.
Bluebreast (n.) A small European bird; the blue-throated warbler.
Bluecap (n.) The bluepoll.
Bluecap (n.) The blue bonnet or blue titmouse.
Bluecap (n.) A Scot; a Scotchman; -- so named from wearing a blue bonnet.
Bluecoat (n.) One dressed in blue, as a soldier, a sailor, a beadle, etc.
Blue-eye (n.) The blue-cheeked honeysucker of Australia.
Blue-eyed (a.) Having blue eyes.
Blue-eyed grass () a grasslike plant (Sisyrinchium anceps), with small flowers of a delicate blue color.
Bluefin (n.) A species of whitefish (Coregonus nigripinnis) found in Lake Michigan.
Bluefish (n.) A large voracious fish (Pomatomus saitatrix), of the family Carangidae, valued as a food fish, and widely distributed on the American coast. On the New Jersey and Rhode Island coast it is called the horse mackerel, in Virginia saltwater tailor, or skipjack.
Bluefish (n.) A West Indian fish (Platyglossus radiatus), of the family Labridae.
Bluegown (n.) One of a class of paupers or pensioners, or licensed beggars, in Scotland, to whim annually on the king's birthday were distributed certain alms, including a blue gown; a beadsman.
Blue grass () A species of grass (Poa compressa) with bluish green stems, valuable in thin gravelly soils; wire grass.
Bluejacket (n.) An enlisted person in the US or British Navy; a sailor. [syn: sailor, navy man, sailor boy].
Blue jay () The common jay of the United States (Cyanocitta, or Cyanura, cristata). The predominant color is bright blue.
Blue-john (n.) A name given to fluor spar in Derbyshire, where it is used for ornamental purposes.
Bluely (adv.) With a blue color.
Blueness (n.) The quality of being blue; a blue color.
Bluenose (n.) A nickname for a Nova Scotian.
Bluepoll (n.) A kind of salmon (Salmo Cambricus) found in Wales.
Blueprint () See under Print.
Bluestocking (n.) A literary lady; a female pedant.
Bluestocking (n.) The American avocet (Recurvirostra Americana).
Bluestockingism (n.) The character or manner of a bluestocking; female pedantry.
Bluestone (n.) Blue vitriol.
Bluestone (n.) A grayish blue building stone, as that commonly used in the eastern United States.
Bluethroat (n.) A singing bird of northern Europe and Asia (Cyanecula Suecica), related to the nightingales; -- called also blue-throated robin and blue-throated warbler.
Bluets (a.) A name given to several different species of plants having blue flowers, as the Houstonia coerulea, the Centaurea cyanus or bluebottle, and the Vaccinium angustifolium.
Blue-veined (a.) Having blue veins or blue streaks.
Bluewing (n.) The blue-winged teal. See Teal.
Bluey (a.) Bluish.
Bluff (a.) Having a broad, flattened front; as, the bluff bows of a ship.
Bluff (a.) Rising steeply with a flat or rounded front.
Bluff (a.) Surly; churlish; gruff; rough.
Bluff (a.) Abrupt; roughly frank; unceremonious; blunt; brusque; as, a bluff answer; a bluff manner of talking; a bluff sea captain.
Bluff (n.) A high, steep bank, as by a river or the sea, or beside a ravine or plain; a cliff with a broad face.
Bluff (n.) An act of bluffing; an expression of self-confidence for the purpose of intimidation; braggadocio; as, that is only bluff, or a bluff.
Bluff (n.) A game at cards; poker.
Bluffed (imp. & p. p.) of Bluff.
Bluffing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Bluff.
Bluff (v. t.) To deter (an opponent) from taking the risk of betting on his hand of cards, as the bluffer does by betting heavily on his own hand although it may be of less value.
Bluff (v. t.) To frighten or deter from accomplishing a purpose by making a show of confidence in one's strength or resources; as, he bluffed me off.
Bluff (v. i.) To act as in the game of bluff.
Bluff-bowed (a.) Built with the stem nearly straight up and down.
Bluffer (n.) One who bluffs.
Bluff-headed (a.) Built with the stem nearly straight up and down.
Bluffness (n.) The quality or state of being bluff.
Bluffy (a.) Having bluffs, or bold, steep banks.
Bluffy (a.) Inclined to bo bluff; brusque.
Bluing (n.) The act of rendering blue; as, the bluing of steel.
Bluing (n.) Something to give a bluish tint, as indigo, or preparations used by washerwomen.
Bluish (a.) Somewhat blue; as, bluish veins.
Blundered (imp. & p. p.) of Blunder.
Blundering (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Blunder.
Blunder (v. i.) To make a gross error or mistake; as, to blunder in writing or preparing a medical prescription.
Blunder (v. i.) To move in an awkward, clumsy manner; to flounder and stumble.
Blunder (v. t.) To cause to blunder.
Blunder (v. t.) To do or treat in a blundering manner; to confuse.
Blunder (n.) Confusion; disturbance.
Blunder (n.) A gross error or mistake, resulting from carelessness, stupidity, or culpable ignorance.
Blunderbuss (n.) A short gun or firearm, with a large bore, capable of holding a number of balls, and intended to do execution without exact aim.
Blunderbuss (n.) A stupid, blundering fellow.
Blunderer (n.) One who is apt to blunder.
Blunderhead (n.) A stupid, blundering fellow.
Blundering (a.) Characterized by blunders.
Blunderingly (adv.) In a blundering manner.
Blunge (v. t.) To amalgamate and blend; to beat up or mix in water, as clay.
Blunger (n.) A wooden blade with a cross handle, used for mi/ing the clay in potteries; a plunger.
Blunging (n.) The process of mixing clay in potteries with a blunger.
Blunt (a.) 鈍的，坦率的，麻痺的 Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; dull; not sharp.
Blunt (a.) Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; stupid; -- opposed to acute.
Blunt (a.) Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.
Blunt (a.) Hard to impress or penetrate.
Blunted (imp. & p. p.) of Blunt.
Blunting (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Blunt.
Blunt (v. t.) To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.