The Collaborative International Dictionary
Blue \Blue\ (bl[=u]), a. [Compar. Bluer (bl[=u]"[~e]r); superl. Bluest.] [OE. bla, blo, blew, blue, livid, black, fr. Icel.bl[=a]r livid; akin to Dan. blaa blue, Sw. bl[*a], D. blauw, OHG. bl[=a]o, G. blau; but influenced in form by F. bleu, from OHG. bl[=a]o.]
Having the color of the clear sky, or a hue resembling it, whether lighter or darker; as, the deep, blue sea; as blue as a sapphire; blue violets. ``The blue firmament.''
--Milton.Pale, without redness or glare, -- said of a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths.
Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue.
Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [Colloq.]
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.
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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 (Zo["o]l.), a small South African antelope ( Cephalophus pygm[ae]us); also applied to a larger species ( [AE]goceras leucoph[ae]us); the blaubok. Blue cod (Zo["o]l.), the buffalo cod. Blue crab (Zo["o]l.), 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 Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent).
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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 pill of prepared mercury, used as an aperient, etc.
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Blue mass. Blue ribbon.
The ribbon worn by members of the order of the Garter; -- hence, a member of that order.
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.
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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 (Zo["o]l.), 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.] PJC
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.
Wiktionary
n. mercurial ointment.
Usage examples of "blue ointment".
Stephen finished rubbing blue ointment into Douglas Murd, washed his hands, tossed Martin the towel, called to Padeen, 'Let the glasses dry of themselves,' and ran on deck, joining almost all the ship's company who were not aloft.
From the dispensary, far aft on the orlop deck, where he and William Smith spent some of the next forenoon grinding quicksilver, hog's lard and mutton suet together to make blue ointment, he could hear Geoghegan practising in the nearby midshipmen's berth, playing scales, changing his reeds, and venturing upon some of the more remarkable flights open to a well-tempered oboe.
It's like you push a feed inside her and then you push it out again& Jesus, that reminds me of something& where did I put that blue ointment?
They made their round together - the usual port diseases had made their appearance - and when they, for want of an intelligent reliable loblolly boy, had rolled their own pills, prepared their own draughts and triturated their own quicksilver in hog's lard for blue ointment, Stephen said to Macmillan, 'Among your books, do you have Willis on Mental Derangement or any of the other authorities?
He had used up half a bottle of horse liniment and most of a tin of blue ointment that Rep had bought for him yesterday, and he was rather slippery and very fragrant.
Ba'al had a deep cut in his underlip, but blue ointment was Sandy's sovereign remedy.