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blue

/bluː/

noun

Meaning

  • The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea, between green and violet in the visible spectrum, and one of the primary additive colours for transmitted light; the colour obtained by subtracting red and green from white light using magenta and cyan filters; or any colour resembling this.

  • A blue dye or pigment.

  • Any of several processes to protect metal against rust.

  • Blue clothing

    "The boys in blue marched to the pipers."

  • (in the plural) A blue uniform. See blues.

  • A member of law enforcement

  • The sky, literally or figuratively.

    "His request for leave came out of the blue."

  • The ocean; deep waters.

  • The far distance; a remote or distant place.

  • Anything blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in color.

  • A dog or cat with a slaty gray coat.

  • One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of five points.

  • Any of the butterflies of the subfamily Polyommatinae in the family Lycaenidae, most of which have blue on their wings.

  • A bluefish.

  • An argument.

  • A liquid with an intense blue colour, added to a laundry wash to prevent yellowing of white clothes.

  • A type of firecracker.

  • A bluestocking.

  • One of the three color charges for quarks.

verb

Meaning

  • To make or become blue.

  • To treat the surface of steel so that it is passivated chemically and becomes more resistant to rust.

  • (laundry) To brighten by treating with blue (laundry aid)

  • To spend (money) extravagantly; to blow.

adjective

Meaning

  • Of the colour blue.

    "the deep blue sea"

  • Depressed, melancholic, sad.

  • Pale, without redness or glare; said of a flame.

    "The candle burns blue."

  • Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.

  • Of the higher-frequency region of the part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.

  • (of steak) Extra rare; left very raw and cold.

  • (of a dog or cat) Having a coat of fur of a slaty gray shade.

  • Severe or overly strict in morals; gloomy.

    "blue and sour religionists;  blue laws"

  • (of women) literary; bluestockinged.

  • Having a color charge of blue.

  • (entertainment) Risque or obscene

    "His material is too blue for prime-time"