blue
- adjective
- /bluː/
- UK
- How blue is your blood?
Examples
-
I've never been able to resist an eastern blue blood, but you, Emily, you're fantastic.
Fiction book (1995) -
The woman is another blue blood, a wealthy widow; her money is old, she's about forty.
Fiction book (1995) -
His wife's a proper blue blood.
-
Mary tossed her head to show what she thought of the blue-blooded South Carolina woman.
Fiction book (1992) -
I went dancing with him, a young blue-blooded Bostonian.
-
Because the pride of blue-blood Yankees often outlasts their wealth.
Fiction book (1998) -
Inspection, meaning you're gonna stand around like an idiot... while a bunch of blue bloods smirk at you.
-
Lady Boleyn came from a blue blood family and was known for her grace and elegance.
-
At the gala, only those of blue ancestry were invited to attend the private dinner.
-
He often mentioned his blue heritage with pride, knowing it linked him to a long line of nobility.
Synonyms
Being from a high social family by birth
Like people from rich, important families who have high social rank
Having polite, elegant manners like upper class people
A person who comes from a royal or noble family and has high social rank
Born into a noble family
Belonging to the noble class and showing their manners and style
Antonyms
Idioms
You must choose between two options that are both bad
To start something that quickly becomes exciting or causes strong debate
Compounds
- US
A range of Appalachian mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia that look blue from far away
A mountain range in the eastern United States from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia
- Specialized
A share of a large, well-known company that is safe and pays steady dividends
- US
A bluish crab that lives on North America's Atlantic and Gulf coasts and is eaten for its sweet meat
- Formal
An independent group of respected experts who study a public problem and give advice
- Specialized
Tiny living things in water that make food from light and often look blue-green
- Jargon
An unwritten rule among police officers not to report a colleague's illegal actions to protect them from punishment
A large bird with blue-grey feathers, long legs and a long neck that lives near water
- Specialized
Bright blue electric flashes that shoot up from thundercloud tops into the upper sky
- US
A type of walleye fish with bluish color that lived in the Great Lakes and is now extinct
- Specialized
A musical note played a bit lower in jazz and blues to sound sad and emotional
- Specialized
A dark green dye used to stain cells, act as an antiseptic, and treat cyanide poisoning
How Aristocratic
Surface Forms
Etymology
The use of blue to mean 'noble' comes from Spanish sangre azul, meaning 'blue blood', because pale skin showed blue veins and this idea was used for aristocracy.