blue
To make or become blueTo make or become blue; to turn blue.
Recorded UK: Association Shtooka, Judith Franck, CC BY 3.0 US, Wikimedia Commons · Recorded US: Dvortygirl, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 2
Meaning
5 senses(ergative)To make or become blue; to turn blue.
bläuen, blau werden
turn blue
(transitive)To brighten by treating with blue (laundry aid).
(transitive)To treat the surface of steel so that it is passivated chemically and becomes more resistant to rust.
More meanings 2
(Australia, intransitive, slang)To fight, brawl, or argue.
(dated, slang, transitive)To spend (money) extravagantly; to blow.
Origin
From Middle English blew, blewe, from Anglo-Norman blew, from Middle French bleu, from OldFrom Middle English blew, blewe, from Anglo-Norman blew, from Middle French bleu, from Old French blöe, bleve, blef (“blue”), from Frankish *blāu (“blue”) (perhaps through a Late Latin blāvus, blāvius (“blue”) attested from Isidore of Seville), from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlēw- (“yellow, blond, grey”).
Uncertain; possibly from blew, past tense of blow.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
blues, blueing, blued, bluedTenses
blue · blued · will blue · have bluedSynonyms
1 synonymsWord family
460 related wordsLessons for this word
2 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.