Word.ws English Dictionary

blue

/bluː/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/blʉw/

blue adjective: of a blue hue.

blue: of a blue hue
Image: Booyabazooka, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

blue (comparative bluer or more blue, superlative bluest or most blue)

  1. Of a blue hue.
    • the deep blue sea
    • Why is the sky blue?
  2. (informal) Depressed, melancholic, sad.
    • “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.[…]”1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
    • "Will you play some of the 'Garden' now?" she asked. "I think I should like it. I'm just the least bit blue."1904, Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Transgression of Andrew Vane, Henry Holt and Company, page 140
  3. Having a bluish or purplish shade to the skin due to a lack of oxygen to the normally deep-red red blood cells; cyanotic.
    • My hands were blue with cold.
    • The divers got them out of the car just in time – they were starting to turn blue.
  4. Pale, without redness or glare.
    • The candle burns blue.
  5. (US) Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by the Democratic Party.
    • I live in a blue constituency. Congress turned blue in the mid-term elections.
  6. (Australian) Supportive of or related to the Liberal Party.
    • Illawarra turns blue in Liberal washout
  7. (UK) Supportive of or related to the Conservative Party.
  8. Of, dominated by, or shifted toward the higher-frequency, or "bluer", end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
  9. (particle) Having a colour charge of blue.
  10. Extra rare; left very raw and cold.
    Synonyms:
    mooing
  11. Having a coat of fur of a slaty gray shade.
  12. (archaic) Severe or overly strict in morals; gloomy.
    • blue and sour religionists; blue laws
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (archaic) Literary; scholarly; bluestockinged.
    • Some of the ladies were very blue and well informed, reading Mrs. Somerville and frequenting the Royal Institution; others were severe and Evangelical, and held by Exeter Hall.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 61, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
  2. (informal) Risqué; obscene; profane; pornographic.
    • His material is too blue for prime time.
    • The air was blue with oaths.
    Synonyms:
    adult
  3. (dated, slang) Drunk.
    • My wine I drank and oft got blue / On brandy, gin and whisky too— / Until my reputation gay, / Along with care, was cast away —1847, Jacob Carter, My Drunken Life, in Fifteen Chapters, from 1825 to 1847, page 76

Noun (1)

blue (countable and uncountable, plural blues)

  1. The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea; the colour midway between green and violet in the visible spectrum and one of the primary additive colours.
    • Lady Penrhyn was quite handsome enough to have spared one ingredient in her cup of fascination, but, unfortunately, having been married in her teens, she expected to live in them, and, never being reminded by the trials to which her sex is subject, of the flight of years, and the inroads of...1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 204
    • She watches the yachts in the creamy evening blues.2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN
  2. Anything coloured blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in colour.
    • I don't like red Smarties. Have you got a blue?
  3. A blue dye or pigment.
  4. (uncountable) Blue clothing.
    • The boys in blue marched to the pipers.
    1. (in plural) A blue uniform. See blues.
    2. A member of a sports team that wears blue colours; (in the plural) a nickname for the team as a whole. See also blues.
      • Come on, you blues!
    3. (slang) An umpire, in reference to the typical dark-blue colour of the umpire's uniform. Sometimes perceived by umpires as derogatory when used by players or coaches while disputing a call.
      • He was safe! Terrible call, blue!
    4. Sporting colours awarded by a university or other institution for sporting achievement, such as representing one's university, especially and originally at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England. See also full blue, half blue.
      • He excelled at rowing and received a blue in the sport at Oxford.
    5. A person who has received such sporting colours.
      • He was a rugby blue at Cambridge.
    6. (slang) A member of law enforcement.
      • He dialed Kathy to be sure she was okay and see if the blues arrived. She was crying when she picked up the phone.
        “Kathy, honey, I'm here. It'll be okay. Are the police there?”2022, Jim Malloy, Die, Mother Goose, Die
    7. (historical) A bluestocking.
  5. The sky, literally or figuratively.
    • The balloon floated up into the blue.
    • His request for leave came out of the blue.
  6. The ocean; deep waters.
  7. The far distance; a remote or distant place.
    • The problem with buffalo as well as most African antelopes as a steady diet is that they have very little marbling or body fat and, after six months out in the blue, one dreams at night of a T-bone steak sizzling in great globules of yellow fat.1978, Peter Hathaway Capstick, Death in the Long Grass, →ISBN
  8. A dog or cat with a slaty gray coat.
    • On average, blues and other dilutes have weaker coats and skin problems seem more prevalent in the dilutes.2000, Joe Stahlkuppe, American Pit Bull Terrier Handbook, page 131
  9. One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of five points.
  10. Any of the butterflies of the subfamily Polyommatinae in the family Lycaenidae, most of which have blue on their wings.
    • The large and handsome spectre-butterfly, Hestia durvillei; the pale-winged peacock butterfly, Drusilla catops; and the most brilliant and wonderful of the clear-winged moths, Cocytia durvillei, were especially interesting, as well, as several little "blues," equalling in brilliancy and beauty...1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 199
  11. A bluefish.
    • When snow falls on the roses, when a mako is beheaded, when the weaks and blues swim south1974 February 2, Roger Frye, “Warm Heart”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 32, page 20
    • Blues are about as vicious a fish as you'll find on the Atlantic seaboard — they will continue to slash through schools of bait even after they have eaten so much that they're constantly regurgitating shredded baitfish.2012, Lenny Rudow, Rudow's Guide to Fishing the Mid Atlantic, page 102
  12. (Australia, colloquial) An argument or brawl.
    • "I had a blue with Dad," said Fay. "He wanted to drive us, I wanted to walk."2004, Tim Winton, The Turning (short stories), Picador UK Paperback edition 2006. Short story, 'Small Mercies' (at p.91)
    • If they had a blue between themselves, they kept it there, it never flowed out onto the streets to innocent people — like a lot of things that have been happenin′ on the streets today.2008, Cheryl Jorgensen, The Taint, page 135
Show 7 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A liquid with an intense blue colour, added to a laundry wash to prevent yellowing of white clothes.
    • It was applied methodically, carefully, resolutely, as in the fashion of a Satin-bird with charcoal, desiccated wood or blue from laundry-bags.1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 13
    Synonyms:
    blueing, bluer
  2. Any of several processes to protect metal against rust.
  3. (UK) A type of firecracker.
    • Lord Lyttelton's Life by Dr Johnson […] which a whole tribe of Blues, with Mrs Montagu at their Head, have Vowed to execrate and revenge […]1781, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 172
  4. (particle) One of the three colour charges for quarks.
  5. (UK) A member or supporter of the Conservative Party.
    • He is a true blue.
  6. A blue cheese.
    • "No, just get over here. You need to try this one!" she exclaimed as she cheesed up a chunk of bread with one of our blues.2005, J. B. Dann, Anecdotal, page 233
    • Blues are made via the introduction of molds from the genus Penicillum roqueforti, which are normally added to the milk toward the beginning of the cheesemaking process.2012, Culture Magazine, Laurel Miller, Thalassa Skinner, Cheese For Dummies (page 55)
  7. (slang, uncountable) Risqué or pornographic material.
    • Improvising freely, he entered the stage with a karaoke set and introduced himself as a 'Bohemian street performer', before launching into a series of clubstyle gags and one-liners, promising 'a bit of blue for the Dads'[…]2009 February 25, S. Purcell, Popular Shakespeare: Simulation and Subversion on the Modern Stage, Springer, →ISBN, page 51
    • Fuzz grinned and nodded at the stage. 'Bit of blue for the lads.' […] The stage was dimly lit, and populated by Nubian slaves and harem girls in artfully draped deshabille.2014 February 5, Charlie Flowers, Kill Order, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 176

Verb (1)

blue (third-person singular simple present blues, present participle blueing or bluing, simple past and past participle blued)

  1. (ergative) To make or become blue; to turn blue.
    • It blows, it snows,
      And blues your nose,
      My toes are all frost bitten
      The weather would
      Quite starve the crows,
      Or freeze the part you sit on.1900 July 8, The Truth, Sydney, page 1, column 6
    • The dawn is wanly blueing.1921, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Sea”, in Sea and Sardinia, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 48
    Synonyms:
    bluen
  2. (transitive) To treat the surface of steel so that it is passivated chemically and becomes more resistant to rust.
  3. (transitive, laundry) To brighten by treating with blue (laundry aid).
  4. (Australia, intransitive, slang) To fight, brawl, or argue.
    • It was years since Ken had flogged her up, but blueing with him still made her ache.2018, Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip, University of Queensland Press, published 2023, page 146

Verb (2)

blue (third-person singular simple present blues, present participle blueing or bluing, simple past and past participle blued)

  1. (dated, slang, transitive) To spend (money) extravagantly; to blow.
    • So far as I can see, there’s nothing to prevent you from drawing a cheque for fifty thousand and blueing the lot.1935, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night
    • They was willing to blue the lot and have nothing left when they got home except debts on the never-never.1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 311

Proper noun capitalized: Blue

Blue

  1. A surname from German. An anglicization of German Blau.
  2. (rare) A female given name from English, typically used in conjoined names like Bonnie Blue or Blue Bell.
  3. A male nickname, occasionally used as a formal given name. (Australia) Nickname for a person with ginger hair.

Noun (2) capitalized: Blue

Blue (plural Blues)

  1. A letterman at Oxford or Cambridge.
  2. (historical) A member of the Royal Horse Guards (which merged with the 1st Dragoons in 1969)
    • Have you heard any news / Of that chap in the Blues / Was it Prosser, or Pyecroft, or Pimm?1944, Noël Coward, I Wonder What Happened to Him?, first verse
  3. Synonym of British Blue (“a breed of cat”).
    • This Blue shows the remarkable, sleek bodyline of the breed.2001, Alan Edwards, The New Guide to Cat Breeds, page 89
    Synonyms:
    British Blue

blue meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

blue in Hindi

blue-coloured — see also dark blue, light blue
नीला nīlā
pornographic
ब्लू blū
anything blue
आसमानी āsmānī
colour
नीला nīlā, आसमानी āsmānī, आबी ābī

blue in Tamil

blue-coloured — see also dark blue, light blue
நீலம் nīlam
colour
நீலம் nīlam

blue in Marathi

blue-coloured — see also dark blue, light blue
निळा niḷā
colour
निळा niḷā

blue in Urdu

blue-coloured — see also dark blue, light blue
نِیلا nīlā
colour
نیلا nīlā
More languagesFewer languages
blue in Bengali
নীল nil
blue in Telugu
నీలము nīlamu
blue in Malayalam
നീല nīla
blue in Kannada
ನೀಲಿ nīli
blue in Punjabi
ਨੀਲਾ nīlā, ਨੀਲੀ nīlī, ਨੀਲੇ nīle, ਨੀਲੀਆਂ nīlīā̃
blue in Gujarati
વાદળી vādaḷī
blue in Odia
ନେଳି neḷi
blue in Sanskrit
नील nīla
blue in Sinhala
නිල් nil
blue in Assamese
নীলা nila
blue in Nepali
नीलो nīlo
blue in Pashto
شين šín, شنه šna, اسماني asmâní
blue in Tagalog
bughaw, asul
blue in Arabic
أَزْرَق ʔazraq, أزرق ʔazraʔ, زرقا zarʔa, أزرگ ʔazrag
blue in Malay
biru, belau, membirukan, membiru
blue in Indonesian
biru, mesum
blue in Persian
آبی âbi, کَبود kabud, اَفْسُرْدِه afsorde, غَمْگین ġamgin
blue in Thai
น้ำเงิน nám-ngən, ฟ้า fáa, สีน้ำเงิน sǐi-nám-ngən, สีฟ้า sǐi-fáa
blue in Vietnamese
xanh lam, màu xanh nước biển, buồn, chán
blue in Myanmar
အပြာ a.pra, ပြာ pra
Dhivehi
ނޫ nū
Dzongkha
ཧོནམོ། honmo

Examples of blue in a sentence

  • He was wearing a blue t-shirt.
  • Gerty's were of the bluest Irish blue, set off by lustrous lashes and dark expressive brows.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
  • But I'm bluer than blue / Sadder than sad.1978, Michael Johnson, Bluer Than Blue:
  • Red No. 3, red No. 40, blue No. 2 and green No. 3 all have been linked with cancer or tumors in animals.2025 March 29, Kristen Rogers, “Over half of US states are trying to eliminate food dyes. Here’s what you can do now”, in CNN:
  • On another occasion, there was a blue between Henry Daniels and Merv Wilson down at the pig sale.2009, John Gilfoyle, Remember Cannon Hill, page 102:

All 40 example sentences with blue

Synonyms of blue

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of blue

Forms of blue

Adjective
comparativebluer
comparativemore blue
superlativebluest
superlativemost blue
alternative form (obsolete)blew
alternative form (obsolete)blewe
Noun
pluralblues
pluralBlues
Verb
third-person singular presentblues
present participleblueing
present participlebluing
past participleblued
pastblued

Plural of blue: blues

Origin of blue

From Middle English blew, blewe, from Anglo-Norman blew, from Middle French bleu, from Old French blöe, bleve, blef (“blue”), from Frankish *blāu (“blue”) (perhaps through a Late Latin blāvus, blāvius (“blue”) attested from Isidore of Seville), from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlēw- (“yellow, blond, grey”). Cognate with dialectal English blow (“blue”), Scots blue, blew (“blue”), North Frisian bla, blö (“blue”), Saterland Frisian blau (“blue”), Dutch blauw (“blue”), German blau (“blue”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish blå (“blue”), Faroese bláur (“blue”), Icelandic blár (“blue”), Latin flāvus (“yellow”), French bleu (“blue”), Middle Irish blá (“yellow”). Doublet of blow. Possibly related also to English blee (“colour”), from Old English blēo (“colour”); but direct derivatives of Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”) in Old English include: Old English blāw and blēo (“blue”), Old English blǣwen (“bluish, light-blue”), blǣhǣwen (“blue-coloured, bluish, violet or purple colour”, literally “blue-hued”). There seems to be a parallel connection in Germanic between words for blue and colour, dually exemplified by...

Uncertain; possibly from blew, past tense of blow.

From the German surname, Americanized from Blau or its French cognate bleu.

Words formed from blue

Phrases with blue

173 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with blue

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about blue

What does blue mean?
Blue means of a blue hue.
What is blue in Hindi?
Blue in Hindi is नीला (nīlā), आसमानी (āsmānī), ब्लू (blū). See Blue meaning in Hindi.
How do you use blue in a sentence?
He was wearing a blue t-shirt.
What part of speech is blue?
Blue can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce blue?
Blue is pronounced /bluː/ (UK).

Words near blue in the dictionary

  1. bludges
  2. bludging
  3. bluds
  4. Bludsworth
  5. bludy
  6. blue
  7. blue acara
  8. blue acaras
  9. blue admiral
  10. blue agave
  11. blue alert

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: blue (page history and authors); Blue (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-blue.ogg, en-us-blue.ogg, EN-AU ck1 blue.ogg.

Cite this entry: “blue.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/blue. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.