4. (thieves’.)—To steal; to plunder. To be blued, to be robbed. For
synonyms, see Prig.
By all that’s blue, phr. (popular).—A euphemistic oath; probably
meaning ‘by Heaven.’ It may be compared with the French parbleu,
synonymous with par Dieu.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxiii. ‘The black cat, by all that’s
blue!’ cried the Captain.
Men in blue, phr. (popular).—The police.—See Blue, subs., sense 1.
1882. Besant, All Sorts and Cond. of Men, ch. xliii. ‘You must now
begin to think seriously about handcuffs and prison, and men in
blue.’
1886. G. A. Apperson, Graphic, 30 Jan., p. 137. The police in
recent times have been known as the blues and the men in blue.
Till all is blue, phr. (popular).—1. To the utmost; to the end; for an
indefinite period. Smyth, in his Sailors’ Word Book, says this phrase
is borrowed from the idea of a vessel making out of port and getting
into deep water.
1835. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. xix. [The land] could
be made to carry wheat till all’s blue again. Ibid., 3 S., ch. xx.
Your mother kickin’ and screamin’ till all was blue again.
1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, I., p. 184. I’ll have at her again,
and dance till all’s blue before I give in.
2. When applied to drinking, till all is blue signifies exceeding
tipsy. As will be seen, this usage is somewhat ancient. It is an
allusion to the supposed effect of drinking on the eyesight. An
analogous French expression is avoir un coup d’bleu (to be slightly
tipsy).
1616. R. C., Times’ Whis., v., 1835. They drink ... Vntil their
adle heads doe make the ground Seeme blew vnto them.
1638. Ford, Lady’s Trial, iv., 2. We can drink till all look blue.
1837. Barham, I. L. (Lay of St. Dunstan).
‘I have nothing to do:
And ’fore George, I’ll sit here and I’ll drink till all’s
blue!’
To look blue, phr. (popular).—To be confounded; surprised; astonished;
annoyed or disappointed. French equivalents are en rester tout bleu; en
être bleu; en bailler tout bleu; and baba from ébahi, astounded.
c. 1600. Rob. Hood (‘Ritson’), II., xxxvi., 84. It made the sunne
looke blue. [M.]
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. Blue, adj. ... 2, blank, or cast down;
as, he looked blue upon it.
1884. Cornhill Mag., Jan., p. 111. The prudent (and sagacious)
officer looked blue. But he speedily recovered himself.
To make the air blue, phr. (popular).—To curse; to swear; to use
profane language. Cf., Blue, adj., sense 2.
True blue, phr. (colloquial).—Faithful; genuine; real; an allusion to
blue as the colour of constancy. A reference either to the deep blue of
the sky or sea suggestive of interminableness; or, it may be derived as
was ‘Coventry blue,’ from a dye that would neither change its colour
nor be discharged by washing; hence figuratively, to signify persons or
things of sterling character or quality. In neither case is the
argument clear or decisive; there is certainly no reason in nature why
the colour and cardinal virtue should be thus associated. Blue skies
and blue seas are proverbially deceitful, and on the other hand, the
expression seems too old a one to owe its origin to the dyer’s skill.
1383. Chaucer, Squiere’s Tale.
And by hire bedde’s hed she made a mew,
And covered it with velouettes blew,
In signe of trouthe that is in woman sene.
Ibid, Court of Love, line 246.
So you dir folke (quod she) that knele in blew,
They were the colour ay and ever shal,
In signe they were, and ever wil be true,
Withoutin change.
Blue Apron, subs. (common).—A tradesman.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Fil., xliii., 230. For if any saucy blue-apron
dares to affront any venerable person ... all scholars are
immediately forbid to have any dealing or commerce with him.
1868. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 98. A blue-apron
statesman, a lay politician, a tradesman who interferes with the
affairs of the nation. The reference is to the blue apron once worn
by nearly all tradesmen, but now restricted to butchers,
poulterers, fishmongers, and so on.
Bluebacks, subs.—1. The paper money of the Confederates. A cant name,
originating, as in the case of United States paper currency greenbacks,
in the colour of the printing on the reverse. A more pronounced slang
name, subsequently applied to bluebacks, was ‘shucks,’ from their
worthlessness after the war. ‘Shucks’ is an old English term for the
refuse of peas and similar products when shelled.
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 291. The confederate notes bore,
for the same reason, the name of bluebacks, which was, however,
soon exchanged for the slang term of shucks.