BLUE

See PURPLE.

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Blue. Blue
Generally associated with purple (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36, etc.). It is supposed to have been obtained from a shellfish of the Mediterranean, the Helix ianthina of Linnaeus. The robe of the high priest’s ephod was to be all of this colour (Ex. 28:31), also the loops of the curtains (26:4) and the ribbon of the breastplate (28:28). Blue cloths were also made for various sacred purposes (Num. 4:6, 7, 9, 11, 12). (See COLOUR.)

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BLUE. → See COLOR

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a symbolic colour Ex 28:31; 39:22; Nu 4:6; 15:38; 2Ch 2:7; 3:14

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blue. Blue, a. skycolored, blank, dejected; n. a skycolor

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Blue (blū), a. [Compar. Bluer (–ẽr); 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. 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.
2. 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.
3. 3. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue.
4. 4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue.
5. 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.
6. 6. Literary; — applied to women; — an abbreviation of bluestocking.
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 (Zoöl.), a small South African antelope (Cephalophus pygmæus); also applied to a larger species (Ægoceras leucophæus); the blaubok. — Blue cod (Zoöl.), the buffalo cod. — Blue crab (Zoöl.), 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. — 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 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). — 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 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. Carlyle. — Blue spar (Min.), azure spar; lazulite. See Lazulite. — Blue thrush (Zoöl.), 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. — 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.