'To look blue' definitions:

Definition of 'To look blue'

From: GCIDE
  • Blue \Blue\ (bl[=u]), a. [Compar. Bluer (bl[=u]"[~e]r); superl. Bluest.] [OE. bla, blo, blew, blue, livid, black, fr. Icel.bl[=a]r livid; akin to Dan. blaa blue, Sw. bl[*a], D. blauw, OHG. bl[=a]o, G. blau; but influenced in form by F. bleu, from OHG. bl[=a]o.]
  • 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 pygm[ae]us); also applied to a larger species ([AE]goceras leucoph[ae]us); 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]