Forms: 3 bleu, 3–8 blew, 4 blu(e, bluw(e, 4–5 blwe, 4–6 blewe, 7– blue. [ME. blew, a. OF. bleu, a Common Romanic word (= Pr. blau, blava, OSp. blavo, It. dial. biavo, med.L. blāvus), ad. OHG. or OLG. blâw-:—OTeut. blǽwo-z blue, whence also ON. blá-, likewise adopted in ME. as bla, blo, now BLAE. The corresponding OE. form bláw (or *blǽw) is known only in Erfurt Gloss. 1152, ‘blata, pigmentum: haui-blauum,’ and the derivative blǽwen (:—blâwîno-) ‘perseus.’ But neither of these survived into ME., where their place was supplied by the adoption of ON. blá, in sense of ‘lividus,’ and of F. bleu in sense of ‘cæruleus.’ The OTeut. blǽwo- was perh. cognate with L. flāvus yellow (though blôwo-z would be the expected Teutonic form), the names of colors having often undergone change in their application; thus OSp. blavo was ‘yellowish-grey.’ (The guess that blǽwo- was derived from the stem *bliuwan, Goth. bliggwan to beat, as ‘the color caused by a blow’ is not tenable.) The present spelling blue is very rare in ME., and hardly known in 16–17th c.; it became common under French influence only after 1700. In pronunciation, nearly all the dictionaries still recognize (bliū), but the more easily pronounced (blū) is general in educated speech.]
I. Properly.
1. The name of one of the colors of the spectrum; of the color of the sky and the deep sea; cerulean.
a. 1300. [see BLUE sb. 1].
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 423. Art þou þe quene of heuenez blwe.
1366. Test. Ebor. (1836), I. 81. Unam robam blue. Ibid. (1394), I. 198. Un drape de blew saye.
1382. Wyclif, Ex. xxvi. 14. Another couertour of blew skynnes.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqrs. T., 636. And by hire beddes heed she made a mewe, And couered it with veluettes blewe [v.r. blue, bluwe].
1486. Bk. St. Albans, A ij b. It hade need to be died other green or blwe.
1570. Levins, Manip., 94. Blewe, ceruleus.
1596. Spenser, Astrophel, 185. The gods … Transformed them … Into one flowre that is both red and blew.
1669. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. xliv. (1682), 153. Between blew and green.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XV. 195. And to blue Neptune thus the goddess calls.
1797. Coleridge, Christabel, I. Concl. The blue sky bends over all.
1855. Dickens, Dorrit, i. A sea too intensely blue to be looked at.
1884. W. Sharp, Earth’s Voices, etc. 142. Bluer than bluest summer air.
b. Said of the color of smoke, vapor, distant hills, steel, thin milk.
1602. Shaks., Ham., V. i. 277. The skyish head Of blew Olympus.
1728. Pope, Dunciad, III. 3. Him close she curtain’d round with vapours blue.
1809. J. Barlow, Columb., VII. 400. His blue blade waved forward.
1831. Lytton, Godolphin, xxxiv. That chain of hills … stretched behind … their blue and dim summits melting into the skies.
a. 1859. De Quincey, Wks. (1863), II. 14. Skimmed or blue milk being only one half-penny a quart—in Grasmere.
1860. Dickens, Uncomm. Trav., xi. 107. Sails of ships in the blue distance.
c. Said of a pale flame or flash without red glare (as of lightning, etc.); e.g., in phr. To burn blue, which a candle is said to do as an omen of death, or as indicating the presence of ghosts or of the Devil (perh. referring to the blue flame of brimstone: see De Foe, Hist. Devil, ch. x.).
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., V. iii. 180. The Lights burne blew! It is now dead midnight. Ibid. (1601), Jul. C., I. iii. 50. The crosse blew Lightning.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burn. Pestle. Ribands black and candles blue For him that was of men most true.
1649. Bp. Reynolds, Serm. Hosea, i. 54. In a mine, if a damp come, it is in vaine to trust to your lights, they will burn blew, and dimme, and at last vanish.
1726. De Foe, Hist. Devil, x. That most wise and solid suggestion, that when the candles burn blue the Devil is in the room.
1824. Byron, Juan, XVI. xxvi. His taper Burnt, and not blue, as modest tapers use … Receiving sprites.
d. Said of the veins as they show through the skin. Cf. blue blood (see BLOOD 8).
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. v. 29. There is Gold, and heere My blewest vaines to kisse: a hand that Kings haue lipt.
1845. Browning, Bishop orders Tomb. Some lump … of lapis lazuli … Blue as a vein o’er the Madonna’s breast.
1885. Mrs. Oliphant, Madam, II. xxvi. 50. Blue veins showing distinctly through the delicate tissue of his skin.
e. Often taken as the color of constancy or unchangingness (? with regard to the blue of the sky, or to some specially fast dye). Hence true blue (fig.): faithful, staunch and unwavering (in one’s faith, principles, etc.): sterling, genuine, real. See also 6 b.
a. 1500. Balade agst. Women Unconst., in Stow’s Chaucer (1561), 340. To newe thinges your lust is euer kene. In stede of blew, thus may ye were al grene.
1672. Walker, Parœm., 30, in Hazl., Eng. Prov. True blue will never stain.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 171. It being true blew Gotham or Hobbes ingrain’d, one of the two.
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., II. viii. 86. The Old Beau is True-Blew, to the Highflown Principles [of] King Edward’s First Protestant Church.
1783. Ainsworth, Lat. Dict., I. s.v. Blue.
f. The particular shade is expressed by words prefixed, as clear, dark, deep, intense, light; azure, indigo, lavender, plum, sky, slate, ultramarine, violet; also by arbitrary words, as Prussian, Berlin, royal, navy. See also BLUE sb. 2.
1415. Test. Ebor. (1836), I. 382. Lectum de worstede de light blewe et sadde blewe.
c. 1475[?]. Sqr. lowe Degre, in Dom. Archit., II. 140. Damaske whyte and asure blewe.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XVIII. xii. Velvet, al of Indy blewe.
1611. Cotgr., Couleur perse, skie-colour, azure colour … light blue.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., I. xxiii. (1634), 78. That which we call skye colour or heavens-blew.
1882. Garden, 18 March, 183/3. Rich azure blue, dark blue … violet blue, rich blue.
2. Livid, leaden-colored, as the skin becomes after a blow, from severe cold, from alarm, etc.; = obs. BLO, and dial. BLAE. Black and blue: see BLACK a. 13, BLAE 1 b. Cf. also BLUE EYE.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 125. Þat fur shal falle and forbrenne al to blewe [1377 blo] askes The houses and þe homes of hem þat taken ȝyftes.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), I. 340. I shuld bete you bak and side tyll it were blewe.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., V. v. 49. There pinch the Maids as blew as Bill-berry.
1634. Milton, Comus, 434. Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., II. 23. My fingers cramped and my nose … blue.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, V. xxvi. His trembling lips are livid blue.
3. fig. Affected with fear, discomfort, anxiety, etc.; dismayed, perturbed, discomfited; depressed, miserable, low-spirited; esp. in phr. To look blue. Blue funk (slang): extreme nervousness, tremulous dread.
a. 1500. Peblis to Play, ii. 6. Than answerit Meg full blew.
c. 1600. Rob. Hood (Ritson), II. xxxvi. 84. It made the sunne looke blue.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, I. 316. But when he came to’t, the poor Lad look’t Blew.
1783. Ainsworth, Lat. Dict. (Morell), I. s.v. Blue, He looked very blue upon it, valde perturbatus fuit.
1840. Disraeli, Corr. w. Sister (1886), 15. Great panic exists here, and even the knowing ones … look very pale and blue.
1861. Sat. Rev., 23 Nov., 534. We encounter … the miserable Dr. Blandling in what is called … a blue funk.
1871. Maxwell, in Life (1882), xii. 382. Certainly χλωρὸν δέος is the Homeric for a blue funk.
1883. M. Howland, in Harper’s Mag., March, 600/1. I’m not a bit blue over the prospect.
† 4. Of the color of blood; ? purple. Obs.
1483. Cath. Angl., 35. Blew [A. blowe], blodius.
II. transf. and fig.
5. Dressed in blue; wearing a blue badge.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. man in Hum., II. iv. We that are Blue-waiters.
1605. Armin, Foole upon F. (1880), 42. Blew John, that giues Food to feede wormes.
1647. May, Hist. Parl., III. vi. 112. The blew auxiliary Regiment.
1709. Lond. Gaz., No. 4508/2. Two Battalions of the blue Foot-Guards.
1883. Reade, Tit for Tat, i. Gainsborough’s blue boy.
b. Blue Squadron: one of the three divisions made of the English Fleet in the 17th c.
1665. Lond. Gaz., No. 3/3. 17 or 18 sail of English Men of War (of the Blew Squadron). Ibid. (1689), No. 2467/4. This day Mr. Edward Russell, Admiral of the Blue Squadron, sailed from St. Helens. Ibid. (1703), No. 3896/3. John Leake, Esq. [is advanced] from Rear-Admiral of the Blue, to be Vice-Admiral of the same Squadron.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVI. 160. Admirals of the red, white, blue, squadrons … bear a square flag of the colour of their squadron at the main … top gallant mast.
c. Blue was formerly the distinctive color for the dress of servants, tradesmen, etc., also of paupers, charity-school boys, almsmen, and in Scotland of the king’s almoners or licensed beggars; cf. blue apron (see 13), BLUE-BOTTLE, BLUE-COAT, BLUE-GOWN.
1609. B. Jonson, Case Altered, I. ii. (N.). [A serving-man] Ever since I was of the blue order.
d. See BLUE sb. 9.
6. Belonging to the political party which, in any particular district, has chosen blue for its distinctive color. (In most parts of England the Conservative party.)
1835. Disraeli, Corr. w. Sister (1886), 35. I … have gained the show of hands, which no blue candidate ever did before.
1868. ‘Holme Lee,’ B. Godfrey, li. 292. She had not won his promise to vote blue. Ibid., lii. 297. This was a blue demonstration, a gathering of the Conservative clans.
b. True blue: (see above 1 e) specifically applied to the Scottish Presbyterian or Whig party in the 17th c. (the Covenanters having adopted blue as their color in contradistinction to the royal red); but also with any use of blue, as in quot. 1860 where it = ‘staunchly Tory.’
1663. Butler, Hud., I. I. 191. For his Religion it was fit To match his Learning and his Wit; ’Twas Presbyterian true Blew.
1785. Burns, Author’s Earn. Cry, xiii. Dempster, a true Blue Scot I’se warran.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl. (1873), 75. A tough true-blue Presbyterian, called Deans.
1860. Trollope, Framley P., i. 10. There was no portion of the county more decidedly true blue.
7. Of women: Learned, pedantic. See BLUESTOCKING. (Usually contemptuous.)
1788. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary (1842), IV. 219. Nobody would have thought it more odd or more blue.
1813. Mar. Edgeworth, Patron., II. xxvi. 117. They are all so wise, and so learned, so blue.
1834. Southey, Doctor, xv. (1862), 37. A Lady … bluer than ever one of her naked, woad-stained ancestors appeared.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes (1850), 38/2. Blue ladies there are, in Boston.
1864. Spectator, No. 1875. 660. A clever, sensible woman, rather blue.
8. fig. Often made the color of plagues and things hurtful. Cf. senses 1 c., 3 b., and BLUE DEVIL.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., V. 157. Riot, pride, perfidy, blue vapours breathe.
1742. R. Blair, Grave, 628. Racking pains, And bluest plagues, are thine.
1783. Ainsworth, Lat. Dict. (Morell), I. s.v. Blue, It was a blue bout to him, istud illi fatale fuit.
1847. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Black Mousquet., II. xv. Those mischievous Imps, whom the world … Has strangely agreed to denominate ‘Blue.’
1856. Bryant, On Revisit. Country, v. The mountain wind … Sweeps the blue streams of pestilence away.
9. colloq. Indecent, obscene. Cf. BLUENESS 4.
10. Phrases (colloq.). Till all is blue: said of the effect of drinking on the eyesight. By all that’s blue: cf. Fr. parbleu (euphem. for pardieu.)
1616. R. C., Times’ Whis., v. 1835. They drink … Vntill their adle heads doe make the ground Seeme blew vnto them.
1838. Fraser’s Mag., XVII. 313. Cracking jokes and bottles, until all is blue.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxiii. ‘The black cat, by all that’s blue!’ cried the captain.
1860. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., Blue … a synonym in the tippler’s vocabulary for ‘drunk.’ To drink ‘till all’s blue’ is to get exceedingly tipsy.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v., Till all’s Blue: carried to the utmost—a phrase borrowed from the idea of a vessel making out of port, and getting into blue water.
III. Comb.
11. General combinations: a. qualifying the names of other colors, as blue-green, -grey, -lilac, -purple, -roan, -violet, -white; also BLUE-BLACK.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 211. His eyeballs, flashing with a *blue-green glare.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, 61. The keen glance of her *blue-grey eye.
1882. Garden, 2 Dec., 481/2. The colour varies from a deep *blue-purple to a bright violet-purple.
1687. Lond. Gaz., No. 2224/4. A Mare of a *blue roan colour.
1881. Daily News, 24 Feb., 3/1. A blue roan … which won at Oxford last summer.
1879. Rood, Chromatics, ix. 122. The three fundamental colours … red, green, and *blue-violet.
b. parasynthetic and instrumental, as blue-aproned [f. blue apron + -ED2], -backed, -blooded, -bloused, -chequed, -colo(u)red, -faced, -flowered, -haired, -laid [see LAID], -lined, -mantled, -stained, -throated, -veined, -washed, -winged; blue-glancing, -glimmering.
1640. Bp. Hall, Chr. Moder., 33/1. A separatist, a *blue-aproned man, that never knew any better school than his shop-board.
1651. Cleveland, Poems, 51. On J. W., 17. A fair blew-apron’d Priest.
1845. Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. 174. A *blue-backed gull, and a curlew.
1863. Kingsley, Water Bab., iii. 129. Like an old *blue-blooded hidalgo of Spain.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxxix. The Dominie, taking his *blue-checqued handkerchief from his eyes.
1858. W. Ellis, Visits Madagascar, xi. 280. The little … *blue-flowered lobelia appeared in great abundance.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, II. III. I. xxii. The Sun, the Moon, the Earth, *blew-glimmering Hel.
1634. Milton, Comus, 29. This isle … He quarters to his *blue-haired deities.
1855. Kingsley, Heroes, v. 167. Poseidon the blue-haired king of the seas.
c. 1865. J. Wylde, in Circ. Sc., I. 153/1. Crearn and *blue-laid paper.
1658. May, Old Couple, I. i. in Dodsley (1780), X. 448. The blushing rose, *blue-mantled violet.
1862. Ansted, Channel Isl., II. ix. (ed. 2), 205, note. The *blue-throated warbler (Sylvia suecica) may be named as a rare visitor.
1593. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 125. These *blue-veined violets, whereon we lean.
1797. Coleridge, Christabel, I. ix. Her blue-veined feet unsandal’d were.
1878. Geo. Eliot, Coll. Breakf. P., 60. A *blue-winged butterfly.
12. Used more or less descriptively and distinctively, in forming the names of natural objects: a. Animals, as blue-back, a species of bird; blue-breast, the Blue-throated Redstart or Warbler; blue bull, the Nyl-gau or Nhilgai of India; blue cat, a Siberian cat valued for its fur; blue cocks, the Salmo albus; blue fox, a variety of the Arctic fox, and its fur; blue hawk, (a.) the Peregrine Falcon (F. peregrinus); (b.) the Ring-tailed Harrier (Circus cyaneus), also called blue glede and blue kite; blue-head, a worm used as bait; blue poker, a kind of duck, the Pochard; blue-poll, the Salmo albus (= blue cocks); blue-rock, a kind of pigeon; blue-throat, a bird, the Sylvia suecica; blue tit, the Blue Titmouse; = BLUE CAP 4; blue-wing, name of a genus of ducks. Also blue goose, jay, linnet, shark, etc.; and in the names of many artificial angling flies, as blue dun, blue gnat, blue jay, etc. Also BLUE-BIRD, BLUEBOTTLE, BLUE-CAP, BLUE-FISH.
c. 1532. in Palsgr., 912. The *blewe back and redbrest, la pioue.
1883. Burroughs, in Century Mag., Sept., 684/1. The blue-back’s nest was scarcely a foot from the ground.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, 324. We disturbed a *blue Arctic fox.
1884. Daily News, 27 Oct., 2/1. Costly fur, such as sable, blue fox, otter, or beaver.
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. V. xi. 6 § 3. 312. The Marsh-worm or *Blue-head is found in moist … localities.
1530. Palsgr., 911. The *blewe kyte, faulz perdrier.
1780. G. White, Selborne, xliv. 111. I readily concur with you in supposing that house-doves are derived from the small *blue rock pigeon.
1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, II. 233. A cage containing five-and-twenty ‘blue rocks.’
1845. Gard. Chron., 86. The robin … seems to fear the *blue-tit.
b. Plants, as blue-berry, the name of various species of Vaccinium, especially the American V. corymbosum; blue-blaw, blue-cup, Centaurea cyanus; = BLUEBOTTLE 1; blue chamomile or blue daisy, the Sea Starwort, and other blue composite flowers; blue-gage, a kind of plum; blue-grass (U.S.), ‘various species of Carex’ (Miller, Plant-names); also WIRE-GRASS, Poa compressa, of N. America; blue gum (tree), the Eucalyptus globulus of Australia; blue-hearts, Buchnera americana; † blue-pipe, the Lilac; † blue poppy (dial.), BLUEBOTTLE 1; blue rocket, Aconitum pyramidale; blue tangles, Vaccinium frondosum; blue-weed, Viper’s Bugloss, Echium vulgare. Also in numberless specific names, as blue Crane’s-bill, etc. See also BLUEBELL, BLUEBONNET, BLUEBOTTLE.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), VI. 2181. *Blue-berries, black-berries, cran-berries, and crow-berries.
1883. M. Howland, in Harper’s Mag., March, 603/2. We are feasting now upon blue-berries; they grow all over our woods.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xiii. 161. This floure is called … of Turner Blew bottell, and *Blewblaw.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 92. No sooner hath the Rose plaied his part, but the blew-blaw entereth the stage.
1611. Cotgr., Blaveoles, Blew bottles, Blew blawes, Corne-flowers.
1597. Gerard, Herbal, lxxxviii. 334. Women that dwell by the sea side, call it … *blew Daisies, or *blew Camomill.
1881. Miss Braddon, Asph., II. 95. The purple bloom of grapes and *blue-gages.
1879. Sir G. Campbell, White & Black, 14. The *blue grass of Kentucky is famous; though it is not blue at all, but green, and very like our common natural grass.
1883. W. H. Bishop, in Harper’s Mag., Oct., 715/1. The blue-grass country is reached by traversing central Virginia and Kentucky. Ibid., 718–9. It [blue-grass] is not blue at all…. It is ‘blue limestone grass’ properly.
1808. Home, in Phil. Trans., XCVIII. 305. The tender shoots of the *blue gum tree.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., xix. (1873), 435. The trees with the exception of some of the Blue-gums.
1884. Dr. W. B. Carpenter, in 19th Cent., Feb., 321. The Eucalyptus globulus, or Blue Gum tree of Australia, has a special power of antagonising the spread of malaria.
1697. J. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XIX. 679. The Common Lilac or *Blew Pipe Tree.
c. Minerals, as blue asbestos = CROCIDOLITE; blue-billy (see quots.); blue copper, blue malachite, = AZURITE; blue copperas, blue stone, blue vitriol, sulphate of copper (see VITRIOL); blue felspar, blue spar, = LAZULITE; blue iron = VIVIANITE; blue lead (see quots.); blue metal, name given by the workmen to a sulphide of copper obtained during the process of copper-smelting; blue slipper, local name of the Gault clay. Also blue Verditer, etc. See also BLUE-JOHN.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 118/1. Carbonic acid, cyanogen, and sulphuretted hydrogen, are extracted from the gas; these combine with the lime, and produce a … compound, which is technically termed *blue-billy.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Blue-billy, the residuum of cupreous pyrites after roasting with salt. Ibid., *Blue-lead (pronounced like the verb to lead), the bluish auriferous gravel and cement deposit found in the ancient river-channels of California.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 407. Blue Lead, a name used sometimes by the miners to distinguish galena from the carbonate, or white lead.
1881. Daily News. A great deal of the most charming scenery of the Undercliti … is due to the freaks of what is locally called the *‘blue slipper.’
1883. Knowledge, June, 323/2. Crystals of pure *bluestone (sulphate of copper, CuSO4).
1770. Watson, in Phil. Trans., LX. 332. *Blue vitriol, corrosive sublimate.
1856. Farmer’s Mag., Jan., 90. The qualities of blue vitriol used for soaking wheat.
13. Special combinations or phrases. † blue apron, one who wears a blue apron, a tradesman; blue blanket, the banner of the Edinburgh craftsmen; fig. the sky; blue blood (see BLOOD 8); blue dahlia, an expression for anything rare or unheard of; blue disease, a popular name for Cyanosis; blue fire, a blue light used on the stage for weird effect; hence attrib. sensational (cf. sense 1 c); blue flint (see quot.); blue heat, a temperature of about 550° Fahr., at which ironwork assumes a bluish tint; blue jacket, a sailor (from the color of his jacket); esp. used to distinguish the seamen from the marines; blue jaundice (= blue disease); blue laws, severe Puritanic laws said to have been enacted last century [18th] at New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.; hence fig.; blue light, a pyrotechnical composition that burns with a blue flame, used also at sea as a night-signal; blue line (in Tennis), the service-line (so colored); blue mantle, the dress, and the title, of one of the four pursuivants of the English College of Arms; blue Monday, (a.) the Monday before Lent; (b.) a Monday spent in dissipation by workmen (cf. Ger. der blaue Montag); blue moon (colloq.), a rarely recurring period; blue-mould, the mold of this color produced upon cheese, consisting of a fungus, Aspergillus glaucus; hence blue-moulded, -moulding a.; blue ointment, mercurial ointment; Blue Peter, a blue flag with a white square in the center, hoisted as the signal of immediate sailing; hence, in Whist, The playing a higher card than is needed, as a signal or ‘call’ for trumps; blue pill, a mercurial pill of antibilious operation; hence blue-pilled a.; blue point (see POINT); blue pot, a pot made of a mixture of clay and graphite, a black-lead crucible; blue ruin (slang), gin, usually of bad quality; blue water, the open sea. See also BLUE-BEARD, BLUE-BOOK, etc.
1726. Amherst, Terræ Filius, xliii. 230. For, if any saucy *blue apron dares to affront any venerable person … all scholars are immediately forbid to have any dealings or commerce with him.
1599. James I., Βασιλικον Δωρον (1603), 51. If they in any thing be controlled, up goeth the *blew-blanket.
1780. (title) Historical Account of the Blue Blanket or Craftsmen Banner, with the Prerogatives of the Crafts of Edinburgh.
1828–41. Tytler, Hist. Scotl. (1864), II. 224. Calling out the trained bands and armed citizens beneath a banner presented to them on this occasion [1482], and denominated the Blue Blanket.
1726. De Foe, Hist. Devil, I. v. We must be content till we come ’tother side the Blue-blanket, and then we shall know.
1875. C. L. Kenney, Mem. M. W. Balfe, 131. The same theatre … set up a formidable opposition ‘Joan’ in the shape of a *blue fire melodrame.
1861. J. Sheppard, Fall Rome, vi. 309. Many persons living can recollect that their English auxiliaries were termed *Blue Flints by the peasants of Vendée, from the unusual colour of the flints in their musket-locks.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 328. The iron came to about, or rather above, a *blue heat.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 400/1. A temperature known as a blue or black heat.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ii. Every *‘blue jacket’ would walk over.
1859. L. Oliphant, Elgin’s Miss. China, I. 128. The ladders … were soon swarming with marines and blue-jackets.
1876. Emerson, Ess., Ser. I. viii. 204. Simple hearts … play their own game in innocent defiance of the *Blue-laws of the world.
1805. Nelson, Disp. (1846), VII. 57. I had rather that all the Ships burnt a *blue-light.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1863), 51. Blue lights and Catharine wheels … all firing away.
1616. Bulloker, *Blewmantle, the name of an office of one of the Purseuants at armes.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 27. The four pursuivants … are Rougecroix, Bluemantle, Rougedragon, and Portcullis.
1814. Scott, Wav., ii. A tie which Sir Everard held as sacred as either Garter or Blue-Mantle.
1885. B. E. Martin, in Harper’s Mag., May, 873/1. The workman getting sober after his usual *‘blue Monday.’
1876. Miss Braddon, J. Haggard’s Dau., xxiv. 246. A fruit pasty once in a *blue moon.
1869. E. Yates, Wrecked in Port, xxii. 242. That indefinite period known as a ‘blue moon.’
1664. Phil. Trans., I. 28. *Blew mould and Mushromes.
1863. Cornh. Mag., Roundab. Papers, xxvii. Carps … with great humps of blue mould on their old backs.
1864. [Lever], C. O’Dowd on Men & Wom., 7. The Austrians, as Paddy says, ‘are *blue-moulded for want of a beatin’.’ [The expression is usually ‘blue-mouldy for want of a bāting.’]
1876. Daily News, 3 Nov., 5/5. If this [bad weather] continues there is a danger of us all getting blue-moulded.
1823. Byron, Juan, XI. lxxxiii. It is time that I should hoist my *‘blue Peter,’ And sail for a new theme.
1862. Mayhew, Crim. Prisons, 23. At the foremast head … the ‘blue Peter’ was flying as a summons to the hands on shore to come aboard.
c. 1875. Beeton’s Handy Bk. Games, 358. Since the introduction of Blue Peter, the necessity of leading through your adversary’s hand has become less and less.
1794–1824. D’Israeli, Cur. Lit., Med. & Mor. The most artificial logic … may be swallowed with the *blue pill, or any other in vogue.
1861. E. Mayhew, Dogs, 102. A few years ago … blue pill with black draught literally became a part of the national diet.
1871. Planché, King Christmas, 9. There are blue devils which defy blue pills!
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., iv. 85. The … crucibles for this purpose are known by the name of *blue-pots.
1819. Moore, Epist. fr. T. Cribb, 15. One swig of *Blue Ruin is worth the whole lot!
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. x. 334. This latter [Potheen] I have tasted, as well as the English Blue-Ruin, and the Scotch Whisky.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1863), 202. When we once are fairly out of harbour, and find ourselves in *blue water.
