a. Obs. Also bloe, bloo, blow(e. [The midland and southern form of the word still preserved in north.Eng. and Sc. as blae, blea:—ON. blá livid. Blo died out in literary Eng. during the 16th or 17th c.: for the etymology and senses, see BLAE.] Blackish blue, livid, leaden-colored. (In early writers sometimes = BLUE.)
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 637. Rein-bowe, men cleped reed and blo.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 341. Tristor he hete wiþ þe berd blowe.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., C. 221. In bluber of þe blo flod.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. III. 97. Alto blo [C. IV. 125. blewe] askes.
c. 1430. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 206. Nowe ligiȝt he ded boþe blok and blo.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 40. Blo erþe, argilla.
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 2080. I wax bothe wanne and bloo.
1530. Palsgr., 306/2. Blo, blewe and grene coloured, as ones body is after a drie stroke.
1565. Golding, Ovid’s Met., III. (1593), 56. Licking with his blo and blasting toong their sorie wounds.
1652. Ripley, Comp. Alch., in Ashmole, 188. The Crowys byll bloe as lede.
1788. W. Marshall, Yorksh. (1796), II. 65. The blue, blow, or lead-coloured flax.
Hence Blo-wipe, a blow or stroke causing a bruise.
1622. R. Callis, Stat. Sewers (1647), 169. If one be presented in a Leet Court for a Blowipe or any other personal wrong.
