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 blue ribbon
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 Rib·bon n.  [Written also riband, ribband.]
 1. A fillet or narrow woven fabric, commonly of silk, used for trimming some part of a woman's attire, for badges, and other decorative purposes.
 2. A narrow strip or shred; as, a steel or magnesium ribbon; sails torn to ribbons.
 3. Shipbuilding Same as Rib-band.
 4. pl. Driving reins. [Cant]
 5. Her. A bearing similar to the bend, but only one eighth as wide.
 6. Spinning A silver.
 Note: ☞ The blue ribbon, and The red ribbon, are phrases often used to designate the British orders of the Garter and of the Bath, respectively, the badges of which are suspended by ribbons of these colors. See Blue ribbon, under Blue.
 Ribbon fish. Zool. (a) Any elongated, compressed, ribbon-shaped marine fish of the family Trachypteridae, especially the species of the genus Trachypterus, and the oarfish (Regelecus Banksii) of the North Atlantic, which is sometimes over twenty feet long. (b) The hairtail, or bladefish. (c) A small compressed marine fish of the genus Cepola, having a long, slender, tapering tail.  The European species (Cepola rubescens) is light red throughout.  Called also band fish.
 Ribbon grass Bot., a variety of reed canary grass having the leaves stripped with green and white; -- called also Lady's garters. See Reed grass, under Reed.
 Ribbon seal Zool., a North Pacific seal (Histriophoca fasciata). The adult male is dark brown, conspicuously banded and striped with yellowish white.
 Ribbon snake Zool., a common North American snake (Eutainia saurita). It is conspicuously striped with bright yellow and dark brown.
 Ribbon Society, a society in Ireland, founded in the early part of the 19th century in antagonism to the Orangemen. It afterwards became an organization of tennant farmers banded together to prevent eviction by landlords. It took its name from the green ribbon worn by members as a badge.
 Ribborn worm. Zool. (a) A tapeworm. (b) A nemertean.

 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.

 blue ribbon
      n : an honor or award gained for excellence [syn: cordon bleu]