blue blood

Noun

blue blood (countable and uncountable, plural blue bloods)

1. (uncountable) Noble or aristocratic ancestry.
   • "He loves you, Jane. Thin persons like a fine armful of a woman. Pharaoh, who is a cad, likes blue blood on the same principle of the attraction of opposites. That is why he is captivated by Gertrude's aristocratic air."1883, George Bernard Shaw, chapter III, in An Unsocial Socialist
2. (countable) An aristocrat.
   • The bluebloods of golf began pouring into the sweltering nation’s capital yesterday for the 64th U.S. Open championship, and the hottest topic was not Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus, but Champagne Tony Lema.1964 June 16, “All Eyes On Lema At U.S. Open This Week”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 22
   • His expected appearance at the Met Gala — once a staid affair for New York blue bloods that has become an East Coast Oscars on Ms. Wintour’s watch — can be viewed as part of TikTok’s shift in how it presents itself to the public.2024 May 3, Jacob Bernstein, Madison Malone Kircher, Sapna Maheshwari, “TikTok’s Boss Goes From Reserved Tech Exec to Met Gala Chair”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 03...
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see blue, blood.
   • Octopuses and squids are examples of animals that have blue blood.