blue

[[t]blu͟ː[/t]]

♦

bluer, bluest, blues

1) COLOUR Something that is blue is the colour of the sky on a sunny day.

There were swallows in the cloudless blue sky...

She fixed her pale blue eyes on her father's.

...colourful blues and reds.

2) N-PLURAL: the N The blues is a type of music which was developed by African American musicians in the southern United States. It is characterized by a slow tempo and a strong rhythm.

His singing really does have the depth and the emotional range of the blues.

...the blues bars of Chicago.

3) N-PLURAL: the N If you have got the blues, you feel sad and depressed. [INFORMAL]

Interfering in-laws are the prime sources of the blues.

4) ADJ-GRADED: v-link ADJ If you are feeling blue, you are feeling sad or depressed, often when there is no particular reason. [INFORMAL]

There's no earthly reason for me to feel so blue.

Syn:

down

5) N-COUNT: usu supp N A Cambridge blue or an Oxford blue is a man or woman who has played for Cambridge or Oxford University in a particular sport. [BRIT]

6) ADJ: ADJ n Blue films, stories, or jokes are about sex.

...a secret stash of porn mags and blue movies.

7) PHRASE If something happens out of the blue, it happens unexpectedly.

One of them wrote to us out of the blue several years later.

8) bolt from the blue → see bolt

blue moon → see moon

blue murder → see murder