blue
- noun
- /blu/
- Archaic
- And on the top panels are nuclei stained in blue with this dye called Dappy.
Examples
-
And now I'm going to take this blue mascara.
-
Her skin was like mine: so thin you could see the blue underneath.
Fiction book (1995) -
Oh, that's because so much blue was taken out, right?
-
I'm going to add a little bit of the blue to little parts of the veins.
-
The woman, her white helmet of hair tinged blue, leaned across the table to cut her husband's chopped steak.
Fiction book (1998) -
In the laundry, I added a scoop of blue to brighten the white shirts.
-
The stylist recommended adding some blue to enhance the highlights in her hair.
-
To make the fabrics brighter, you should use a blue whitening agent in the wash.
Synonyms
A blue liquid added to laundry or hair to reduce yellow and make them look whiter
A blue dye added to laundry or hair to make them look whiter
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
Surface Forms
Etymology
The laundry product called blue comes from adding a little blue dye to white clothes to make them look whiter, so the brightening liquid or powder was simply called blue.