Word of the Day: Blue

blue / blo͞o

 

adjective

 

1. of the color between green and violet on the spectrum

Blue skies smiling at me,

Nothing but blue skies do I see.

Irving Berlin, 1888-1989

 

2. of the skin, discolored due to cold

I play until my fingers are blue and stiff from the cold, and then I keep on playing.

From ‘Revolution’ by Jennifer Donnelly, 1963-

 

3. melancholy; in low spirits

Mama says that, happiness is from magic rays of sunshine that come down when you’re feeling blue.

Adam Sandler, 1966-

 

4. tinged with the coolest of primary colors

So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.

From ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940

 

5. risqué

If you don’t want to hear a joke that’s blue, you shouldn’t go to a comedy club where a comedian who makes blue jokes is performing.

Gilbert Gottfried, 1955-

 

6. in music, a note that creates discordance

Most other American vernacular music uses blue notes tool jazz, funk, rock, country, gospel, folk and so on.

http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2010/blue-notes/

 

noun

 

1. the primary color which falls in between green and violet on the spectrum

Blue is the color of peace.

Antonio Brown, 1988-

 

2. something in a shade of the coolest primary color

The sky grew darker, painted blue on blue, one stroke at a time, into deeper and deeper shades of night.

From ‘Dance Dance Dance’ by Haruki Murakami, 1949-

 

3. plural, a genre of music characterized by a call-and-response pattern; often capitalized

Everything comes out in blues music: joy, pain, struggle. Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance.

Wynton Marsalis, 1961-