Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Bluish |
BluishAdjective1. Having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky; "October's bright blue weather"- Helen Hunt Jackson; "a blue flame"; "blue haze of tobacco smoke". 2. Tinged with blue or purple from cold or contusion; "the children's lips are blue from cold"; "a blue bruise". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "bluish" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1812. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Blue is one of the three primary additive colors; blue light has the shortest wavelength (about 470 nm) of the three primary colours.
A clear sky on a sunny day is coloured blue because of Rayleigh scattering of the light from the Sun. Large amounts of water (H2O) look blue because red light around 750 nm is absorbed as an overtone of the O-H stretching vibration. Interestingly, heavy water (D2O) is colourless, because the absorption band is at a longer wavelength (~950 nm).
An example of a blue color in the RGB color space has intensities [0, 0, 255] on a 0 to 255 scale. On a browser that supports visual formatting in Cascading Style Sheets, the following box should appear in this color:
The English language commonly uses "blue" to refer to any color from blue to cyan.
Usage, symbolism, colloquial expressions
- The colloquial expression "blue" is used to describe melancholy or sadness in English speaking countries. See also Blues music.
- The word "blue" is often used in reference to the Police force; e.g. "Boys in Blue", "the blue line"
- Blue is also the color of many police uniforms. Police in the Peoples Republic of China changed the color of the uniforms from green to blue in the late 1990s partly to emphasize their civilian role.
- Blue is the color of many air force dress uniforms including those of the United States.
- Blue is used to denote the working class (due to the usual color of working clothes). Blue-collar workers are industrial workers as opposed to white-collar office workers.
- The phrase "of blue blood" is used to mean "from an aristocratic background", because a pale, untanned skin allows blue-tinged veins to show through.
- A "Blue movie" is a slang term for a pornographic film. There are also "Blue magazines". This term is more common in Great Britain than the United States.
- Users of Microsoft Windows often use the term "blue" to describe a computer that has encountered a blue screen of death.
- "Blue laws" is a slang term for laws regulating issues of morality, such as alcohol, gambling, or sexually-explicit materials.
- The Blue Riband is a prize awarded since the 1860s to the ship that made the fastest transatlantic crossing.
- "Blue ribbon" is a term used to describe something of high quality, such as a blue ribbon panel or a blue ribbon commission. This usage comes from the practice of awarding blue ribbons for first place in certain athletic or other competitive endeavors.
- Dark blue is associated with Oxford University and light blue with Cambridge University. Participants in sporting fixtures between these universities are said to have been awarded "a blue", similar in concept to a varsity letter.
- In Australia, a "blue" can also describe a fight or an argument.
- The German word for blue is used for "drunk".
- In Japanese, the word for blue is used for "young".
- In Russian, the word for blue is slang for "gay".
- Blue often denoted injury since it is the color of a bruise.
- In medical diagrams, blue is used to represent veins carrying deoxygenated blood back to the heart. Deoxygenated blood is actually reddish violet.
- Politically: Electoral maps in the United States usually use blue for the Democratic Party. Those in the United Kingdom use blue for the Conservative Party (which uses blue as one of its symbols), and those in Canada use blue to refer to the Progressive Conservatives. In the Republic of China on Taiwan, the blue is the symbol for the Kuomintang and has been used as the emblem for Chinese reunification leaning parties. Internationally, blue is the color for conservatives (with notable exceptions; see Political party).
- Blue is used to represent the Union in the American Civil War in opposition to the Confederate gray, both based on the uniforms worn by the respective armies.
- Azzurro (a light blue) is the national color of Italy.
- "Big Blue" is a nickname for IBM.
- A blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month, or a moon that appears blue because of particles in the atmosphere. Both are uncommon enough that "once in a blue moon" means "almost never."
- A blue note is a note between the regular notes on the scale. Blue notes are the most important notes in the blues scale.
House painted blue
Music
Blue is also the title of an album by the Canadian singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell.
Kind of Blue is the title of an album by Miles Davis, which has become one of the biggest selling jazz recordings in history.
Blue Train is the title of an influential jazz album by John Coltrane
Rhapsody in Blue is a symphonic jazz composition for jazz band, piano, and orchestra by George Gershwin.
Love is Blue is a popular tune from the 1960's by Andy Williams, most notably performed by Paul Mauriat.
Blue is also a title for songs from LeAnn Rimes to Eiffel 65.
See also:
- Blues
- Trois Coleurs: Bleu
- Derek Jarman's Blue
- Blue (1968 movie)
- Blue (1992 movie)
- Blue (2001 movie)
- Blue (2002 movie)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Blue."
Synonyms: BluishSynonyms: blue (adj), blueish (adj), dark-blue (adj), light-blue (adj). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Bluish |
| English words defined with "bluish": bluish green. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "bluish": Acrodynia, adularescence, amethystine quartz, argyrosis conjunctiva, argyrosis conjunctivae, argyrosis oculi ♦ bears' muck, Bishop's ring, blue annealing, blue band, blue gold, blue line, boylom, burn marks, Burton line, Burtonian line, Burton's line ♦ conjunctival argyrosis, cyanemia, cyanoderma ♦ gallium arsenide, goshenite ♦ iron oxides ♦ LOBSTER, Locus Coeruleus ♦ pearl opal, pink-disease ♦ rhizohyphae, Rose Bengal. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "bluish": Caesium. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | Yeah, riding high on love’s true bluish light, ooh, oh ("Heart of Glass"; performing artist: Blondie) I bet his wrists ain't bluish like this, like this (Hey Papi; performing artist: Jay-Z) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Polar night has arrived - geodesic dome silhouetted by bluish aurora australis Horizontal line emanating to right from geodesic dome is exhaust from generator. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Beach Time" by Alejandro González G. Commentary: "Soft and white sand, the sea and its bluish colors, Cancun, Mexico." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | It seemed to him as though she filled the whole extremity of the walk with a pale, bluish light |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | But his hands were bluish with cold |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | People who have poor supply of oxygen usually have a bluish tinge to their skin, lips, and nailbeds, a condition called cyanosis. (references) | |
The doctor also will examine the mucous membranes, which often appear swollen and pale or bluish in persons with allergic conditions. (references) | ||
Symptoms may include changes in behavior, irritability, lethargy, loss of consciousness, pale or bluish skin, vomiting, and convulsions. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Bluish" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.21% of the time. "Bluish" is used about 56 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.21% | 55 | 45,713 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.79% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 56 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "bluish": bluish green ♦ bluish grey ♦ bluish white ♦ Eosine I Bluish ♦ have a bluish tint. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "bluish": bluish-black, bluish-brown, bluish-green, bluish-grey, bluish-misty, bluish-purple, bluish-violet, bluish-white, bluish-yellow. | |
Ending with "bluish": purply-bluish. | |
Containing "bluish": blae bluish-black or gray-blue. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
bluish | 4 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "bluish"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | kaltërosh. (various references) | |
Arabic | مزرق, ضارب الى الزرقة. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | синкав, възсин. (various references) | |
Chinese | 蓝蓝. (various references) | |
Czech | namodralý (livid). (various references) | |
Danish | Burton's linie (blue gum, blue line, bluish discoloration of the gums at the margin of the teeth seen in chronic lead poisoning(4), Burton line, Burton sign, Burtonian line, Burton's line, lead line), blysøm (blue gum, blue line, bluish discoloration of the gums at the margin of the teeth seen in chronic lead poisoning(4), Burton line, Burton sign, Burtonian line, Burton's line, lead hem, lead line), blyrand (blue gum, blue line, bluish discoloration of the gums at the margin of the teeth seen in chronic lead poisoning(4), Burton line, Burtonian line, Burton's line, lead line). (various references) | |
Dutch | loodzoom (blue gum, blue line, bluish discoloration of the gums at the margin of the teeth seen in chronic lead poisoning(4), Burton line, Burton sign, Burtonian line, Burton's line, lead hem, lead line), loodlijn (aft, blue gum, blue line, bluish discoloration of the gums at the margin of the teeth seen in chronic lead poisoning(4), Burton line, Burtonian line, Burton's line, forward, lead line, midship perpendiculars), lijn van Burton (blue gum, blue line, bluish discoloration of the gums at the margin of the teeth seen in chronic lead poisoning(4), Burton line, Burton sign, Burtonian line, Burton's line, lead line), halo saturninus (blue gum, blue line, bluish discoloration of the gums at the margin of the teeth seen in chronic lead poisoning(4), Burton line, Burtonian line, Burton's line, lead line). (various references) | |
Farsi | مایل به ابی , ابی فام . (various references) | |
Finnish | sinertävä. (various references) | |
French | bleuâtre, tirant sur le bleu. (various references) | |
German | bläulich (bluey). (various references) | |
Greek | γαλαζωπόσ, υποκύανοσ. (various references) | |
Hebrew | כחלחל. (various references) | |
Hungarian | kékes (blue, livid). (various references) | |
Indonesian | kebiru-biruan, kebiruan. (various references) | |
Italian | azzurrognolo. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 蒼然 (blue, dim). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | そうぜん (binocular, blue, both eyes, confused, dim, noisy, uproarious). (various references) | |
Korean | 파란 (Blue). (various references) | |
Manx | lesh y ghormid, gorrymagh. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | uishblay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | azulado (bluey). (various references) | |
Romanian | vineţit, siniliu (deep blue), albãstriu (bluey). (various references) | |
Russian | синеватый, голубоватый. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | pomodreo (livid), plavkast. (various references) | |
Spanish | azulado (blueing). (various references) | |
Swedish | blåaktig (blueish, bluey). (various references) | |
Thai | ซึ่งเป็นสีน้ำเงิน. (various references) | |
Turkish | mavimtırak, mavimsi. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | синюватий (bluey), голубуватий (bluey). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | xanh xanh, hơi xanh. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | lividus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "bluish": bluishness, bluishnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Bluish" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: beloush, Blaich, Blawith, blewish, blih, blish, Blushi, blushy, boluis, bouih, bouis, Buidh, Bulith, Iliushin. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "bluish" (pronounced 'Blu"ish'): Abolish, Admonish, Affamish, Alish, Amateurish, Apish, Aspish, Assish, Astonish, Babish, Baboonish, Balkish, Banish, Bardish, Basquish, Bearish, Beauish, Blackish, Blockish, Bluntish, Boarish, Bookish, Boorish, Boyish, Brackish, Brainish, Brinish, Broadish, Brockish, Brownish, Buccaneerish, Buckish, Buffoonish, Bullish, Calvish, Cavalierish, Cherish, Childish, Churlish, Clayish, Clownish, Coldish, Coltish, Coolish, Coyish, Czarish, Dampish, Danish, Dankish, Darkish. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-h-i-l-s-u" | |
-1 letter: blush, buhls, hilus. | |
-2 letters: buhl, bush, hubs, libs, lush, shul, slub. | |
-3 letters: bis, bus, his, hub, lib, lis, sib, sub. | |
-4 letters: bi, hi, is, li, sh, si, uh, us. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-h-i-l-s-u" | |
+1 letter: blueish, bullish, bushily, publish. | |
+2 letters: bluefish, blushing, bushlike, clubbish, halibuts, holibuts. | |
+3 letters: blueshift, brutishly, bullishly, bullwhips, busheling, copublish, nailbrush, published, publisher, publishes, republish, thuribles. | |
+4 letters: bluefishes, blueshifts, bluishness, blushingly, bullfights, bushelling, lightbulbs, nightclubs, publishers, publishing, punishable, thumbnails, unblushing. | |
+5 letters: blueshifted, buffalofish, bullfinches, bullishness, copublished, copublisher, copublishes, exhaustible, nailbrushes, outblushing, publishable, publishings, republished, republisher, republishes, shipbuilder, thimblefuls, unblemished, unpublished. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
