a. [ L. abluens, p. pr. of. abluere to wash away; ab + luere (lavere, lavare). See Lave. ] Washing away; carrying off impurities; detergent. -- n. (Med.) A detergent. AS [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. delicate California annual having blue flowers marked with dark spots.
Syn. -- baby blue-eyes, Nemophila menziesii [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. the dark color of a bruise in the flesh, which is accompanied with a mixture of blue. “To pinch the slatterns black and blue.” Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. discolored by or as if by bruising; -- of skin. livid bruises
Syn. -- livid. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ Compar. Bluer superl. Bluest. ] [ OE. bla, blo, blew, blue, livid, black, fr. Icel.blār livid; akin to Dan. blaa blue, Sw. blå, D. blauw, OHG. blāo, G. blau; but influenced in form by F. bleu, from OHG. blāo. ] 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of bluestocking. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The ladies were very blue and well informed. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blue asbestus. See Crocidolite. --
Blue black, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black. --
Blue blood. See under Blood. --
Blue buck (Zool.), a small South African antelope (Cephalophus pygmæus); also applied to a larger species (Ægoceras leucophæus); the blaubok. --
Blue cod (Zool.), the buffalo cod. --
Blue crab (Zool.), 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) a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). (b) 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) A pill of prepared mercury, used as an aperient, etc. (b) Blue mass. --
Blue ribbon. (a) The ribbon worn by members of the order of the Garter; -- hence, a member of that order. (b) 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. (c) 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 (Zool.), 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

For his religion . . .
'T was Presbyterian, true blue. Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One of the seven colors into which the rays of light divide themselves, when refracted through a glass prism; the color of the clear sky, or a color resembling that, whether lighter or darker; a pigment having such color. Sometimes, poetically, the sky; as, to fly off into the blue. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A pedantic woman; a bluestocking. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. [ Short for blue devils. ] Low spirits; a fit of despondency; melancholy. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Berlin blue, Prussian blue. --
Mineral blue. See under Mineral. --
Prussian blue. See under Prussian. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Blued p. pr. & vb. n. Bluing. ] To make blue; to dye of a blue color; to make blue by heating, as metals, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) A trout (Salmo oquassa) inhabiting some of the lakes of Maine. (b) A salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) of the Columbia River and northward. (c) An American river herring (Clupea æstivalis), closely allied to the alewife. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The hero of a mediæval French nursery legend, who, leaving home, enjoined his young wife not to open a certain room in his castle. She entered it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. -- Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Bluebeard chamber of his mind, into which no eye but his own must look. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) (a) A plant of the genus Campanula, especially the Campanula rotundifolia, which bears blue bell-shaped flowers; the harebell. (b) A plant of the genus Scilla (Scilla nutans). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Blaeberry. ] (Bot.) The berry of several species of Vaccinium, an ericaceous genus, differing from the American huckleberries in containing numerous minute seeds instead of ten nutlets. The commonest species are Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum and Vaccinium vacillans. Vaccinium corymbosum is the tall blueberry. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A duck of the genus Fuligula. Two American species (Fuligula marila and Fuligula affinis) are common. See Scaup duck. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A small song bird (Sialia sialis), very common in the United States, and, in the north, one of the earliest to arrive in spring. The male is blue, with the breast reddish. It is related to the European robin. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pairy bluebird (Zool.), a brilliant Indian or East Indian bird of the genus Irena, of several species. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. unable to see the color blue or to distinguish the colors blue and yellow.
Syn. -- tritanopic. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. inability to distinguish blue and yellow.
Syn. -- tritanopia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a member of the nobility or aristocracy, or a person of high social status. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. the quality of status that qualifies one as a blue blood; -- used metaphorically, as “They have blue blood in their veins.”.
-- Blue"-blood`ed, adj. [PJC]

adj. of aristocratic birth and refined upbringing.
Syn. -- aristocratic, coroneted, gentle, highborn, patrician, titled, wellborn, upper-class. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ or } n. 1. A broad, flat Scottish cap of blue woolen, or one wearing such cap; a Scotchman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) A plant. Same as Bluebottle. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) The European blue titmouse (Parus cœruleus); the bluecap. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A parliamentary publication, so called from its blue paper covers. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The United States official “Biennial Register.” [ 1913 Webster ]

, n. 1. (Bot.) an annual Eurasian plant (Centaurea cyanus) which grows in grain fields; -- called also bachelor's button. It receives its name from its blue bottle-shaped flowers. Varieties cultivated in North America have showy heads of blue or purple or pink or white flowers
Syn. -- cornflower, bachelor's button. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Zool.) A large and troublesome species of blowfly (Musca vomitoria). Its body is steel blue. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A small European bird; the blue-throated warbler. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) (a) The bluepoll. (b) The blue bonnet or blue titmouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A Scot; a Scotchman; -- so named from wearing a blue bonnet. [ Poetic ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One dressed in blue, as a soldier, a sailor, a beadle, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. of or designating work or workers in industry not requiring well-groomed appearance. [ Narrower terms: industrial ] white-collar [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. of those who work for wages especially manual or industrial laborers. [ Narrower terms: lower-class, low-class ]
Syn. -- propertyless, wage-earning, working-class. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Zool.) The blue-cheeked honeysucker of Australia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having blue eyes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. favorite. [ informal ]
Syn. -- fair-haired(prenominal), white-headed(prenominal). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

fld>(Bot.) a grasslike plant (Sisyrinchium anceps), with small flowers of a delicate blue color. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A species of whitefish (Coregonus nigripinnis) found in Lake Michigan. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) 1. A large voracious fish (Pomatomus saitatrix), of the family Carangidæ, valued as a food fish, and widely distributed on the American coast. On the New Jersey and Rhode Island coast it is called the horse mackerel, in Virginia saltwater tailor, or skipjack. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A West Indian fish (Platyglossus radiatus), of the family Labridæ. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The name is applied locally to other species of fishes; as the cunner, sea bass, squeteague, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One of a class of paupers or pensioners, or licensed beggars, in Scotland, to whim annually on the king's birthday were distributed certain alms, including a blue gown; a beadsman. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) A species of grass (Poa compressa) with bluish green stems, valuable in thin gravelly soils; wire grass. [ 1913 Webster ]

Kentucky blue grass, a species of grass (Poa pratensis) which has running rootstocks and spreads rapidly. It is valuable as a pasture grass, as it endures both winter and drought better than other kinds, and is very nutritious. [ 1913 Webster ]

. The Sate of Kentucky; -- a nickname alluding to the blue-grass region, where fine horses are bred. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. pl. blue"-green al"gae [ from the color and resemblance to algae. ] any of a group of photosynthetic microorganisms possessing characteristics of both bacteria and plants. When classed as bacteria, they are assigned to the Cyanobacteria; when classed as plants, they are assigned to the Cyanophyta. They are now known to be prokaryotic, and are usually called cyanobacteria in technical contexts. See cyanobacterium. [ PJC ]

. The State of Delaware; -- a popular sobriquet. It is said, though the story lacks proof, to have taken its origin from the insistence of a Delaware Revolutionary captain, named Caldwell, that no cock could be truly game unless the mother was a blue hen, whence
Blue Hen's Chickens came to be a nickname for the people of Delaware. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. Same as bluing. [ PJC ]

n. a serviceman in the navy.
Syn. -- navy man, sailor, sailor boy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

(Zool.) The common jay of the United States (Cyanocitta, or Cyanura, cristata). The predominant color is bright blue. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. a tight-fitting trousers made of blue denim or a similar fabric, designed originally to serve as inexpensive durable workclothes, and often having metal rivets for reinforcement. They have become very popular as casual wear for all age groups, and more expensive and more carefully styled and tailored versions called designer jeanshave also become popular among girls and women.
Syn. -- jeans, Levis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A name given to fluor spar in Derbyshire, where it is used for ornamental purposes. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With a blue color. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

def>The second full moon occurring in the same month; -- derived from the expression once in a blue moon; as, we had a blue moon on January 31, 1999, and another in March. [ PJC ]

once in a blue moon very rarely; -- from the observation that the moon rarely has a bluish tint. In 1980, the phrase blue moon was applied to the second full moon of any month, because this phenomenon is unusual. This new meaning for blue moon, a long time, used primarily in the phrase once in a blue moon, has become widely accepted. [ PJC ]

n. The quality of being blue; a blue color. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A nickname for a Nova Scotian; also, a Nova Scotian ship (called also ; a Nova Scotian potato, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. to change, delete, or abridge (a portion of a text) with a blue pencil (or as if with a blue pencil), as in the editing process; -- of books, etc. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ Blue + poll head. ] (Zool.) A kind of salmon (Salmo Cambricus) found in Wales. [ 1913 Webster ]

. See under Print. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. prenom. selected or chosen for special qualifications; as, a blue-ribbon grand jury.
Syn. -- blue ribbon(predicate), select. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a type of folk song that originated among Black Americans at the beginning of the 20th century; has a melancholoy sound from repeated used of blue notes. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a state of depression; as, he had a bad case of the blues.
Syn. -- megrims. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

. A law enacted to provide for the regulation and supervision of investment companies in order to protect the public against companies that do not intend to do a fair and honest business and that offer investments that do not promise a fair return; -- so called because the promises made by some investment companies are as boundless or alluring as the blue sky, or, perhaps, because designed to clear away the clouds and fogs from the simple investor's horizon. [ Colloq. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. tall grass with smooth bluish leaf sheaths grown for hay in Western U.S.
Syn. -- blue stem, Andropogon furcatus, Andropogon gerardii. [ WordNet 1.5 ]