Blue a. [Compar. Bluer superl. Bluest.]
 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.”
 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. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue.
 4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [Colloq.]
 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. Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of bluestocking. [Colloq.]
    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 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.]
 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.
 Buf·fa·lo n.; pl. Buffaloes
 1. Zool. A species of the genus Bos or Bubalus (Bubalus bubalus), originally from India, but now found in most of the warmer countries of the eastern continent.  It is larger and less docile than the common ox, and is fond of marshy places and rivers.
 2. Zool. A very large and savage species of the same genus (Syncerus Caffer syn. Bubalus Caffer) found in South Africa; -- called also Cape buffalo.
 3. Zool. Any species of wild ox.
 4. Zool. The bison of North America.
 5. A buffalo robe. See Buffalo robe, below.
 6. Zool. The buffalo fish. See Buffalofish, below.
 Buffalo berry Bot., a shrub of the Upper Missouri (Sherherdia argentea) with acid edible red berries.
 Buffalo bird Zool., an African bird of the genus Buphaga, of two species. These birds perch upon buffaloes and cattle, in search of parasites.
 Buffalo bug, the carpet beetle. See under Carpet.
 Buffalo chips, dry dung of the buffalo, or bison, used for fuel. [U.S.]
 Buffalo clover Bot., a kind of clover (Trifolium reflexum and Trifoliumsoloniferum) found in the ancient grazing grounds of the American bison.
 Buffalo cod Zool., a large, edible, marine fish (Ophiodon elongatus) of the northern Pacific coast; -- called also blue cod, and cultus cod.
 Buffalo fly, or  Buffalo gnat Zool., a small dipterous insect of the genus Simulium, allied to the black fly of the North. It is often extremely abundant in the lower part of the Mississippi valley and does great injury to domestic animals, often killing large numbers of cattle and horses. In Europe the Columbatz fly is a species with similar habits.
 Buffalo grass Bot., a species of short, sweet grass (Buchloë dactyloides), from two to four inches high, covering the prairies on which the buffaloes, or bisons, feed. [U.S.]
 Buffalo nut Bot., the oily and drupelike fruit of an American shrub (Pyrularia oleifera); also, the shrub itself; oilnut.
 Buffalo robe, the skin of the bison of North America, prepared with the hair on; -- much used as a lap robe in sleighs.
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