DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Blau·bok n.  Zool. The blue buck. See Blue buck, under Blue.
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 Blue a. [Compar. Bluer superl. Bluest.]
 1. Having the color of the clear sky, or a hue resembling it, whether lighter or darker; as, the deep, blue sea; as blue as a sapphire; blue violets. “The blue firmament.”
 2. Pale, without redness or glare, -- said of a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths.
 3. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue.
 4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [Colloq.]
 5. Severe or over strict in morals; gloom; as, blue and sour religionists; suiting one who is over strict in morals; inculcating an impracticable, severe, or gloomy mortality; as, blue laws.
 6. Literary; -- applied to women; -- an abbreviation of bluestocking. [Colloq.]
    The ladies were very blue and well informed.   --Thackeray.
 Blue asbestus. See Crocidolite.
 Blue black, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black.
 Blue blood. See under Blood.
 Blue buck Zool., a small South African antelope (Cephalophus pygmæus); also applied to a larger species (Ægoceras leucophæus); the blaubok.
 Blue cod Zool., the buffalo cod.
 Blue crab Zool., the common edible crab of the Atlantic coast of the United States (Callinectes hastatus).
 Blue curls Bot., a common plant (Trichostema dichotomum), resembling pennyroyal, and hence called also bastard pennyroyal.
 Blue devils, apparitions supposed to be seen by persons suffering with delirium tremens; hence, very low spirits.  “Can Gumbo shut the hall door upon blue devils, or lay them all in a red sea of claret?” --Thackeray.
 Blue gage. See under Gage, a plum.
 Blue gum, an Australian myrtaceous tree (Eucalyptus globulus), of the loftiest proportions, now cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions for its timber, and as a protection against malaria. The essential oil is beginning to be used in medicine. The timber is very useful. See Eucalyptus.
 Blue jack, Blue stone, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper.
 Blue jacket, a man-of war's man; a sailor wearing a naval uniform.
 Blue jaundice. See under Jaundice.
 Blue laws, a name first used in the eighteenth century to describe certain supposititious laws of extreme rigor reported to have been enacted in New Haven; hence, any puritanical laws. [U. S.]
 Blue light, a composition which burns with a brilliant blue flame; -- used in pyrotechnics and as a night signal at sea, and in military operations.
 Blue mantle Her., one of the four pursuivants of the English college of arms; -- so called from the color of his official robes.
 Blue mass, a preparation of mercury from which is formed the blue pill. --McElrath.
 Blue mold or Blue mould, the blue fungus (Aspergillus glaucus) which grows on cheese. --Brande & C.
 Blue Monday, (a) a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). (b) a Monday considered as depressing because it is a workday in contrast to the relaxation of the weekend.
 Blue ointment Med., mercurial ointment.
 Blue Peter British Marine, a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to recall boats, etc. It is a corruption of blue repeater, one of the British signal flags.
 Blue pill. Med. (a) A pill of prepared mercury, used as an aperient, etc. (b) Blue mass.
 Blue ribbon. (a) The ribbon worn by members of the order of the Garter; -- hence, a member of that order. (b) Anything the attainment of which is an object of great ambition; a distinction; a prize. “These [scholarships] were the --=\blue ribbon of the college.”\= --Farrar. (c) The distinctive badge of certain temperance or total abstinence organizations, as of the --Blue ribbon Army.
 Blue ruin, utter ruin; also, gin. [Eng. Slang] --Carlyle.
 Blue spar Min., azure spar; lazulite. See Lazulite.
 Blue thrush Zool., a European and Asiatic thrush (Petrocossyphus cyaneas).
 Blue verditer. See Verditer.
 Blue vitriol Chem., sulphate of copper, a violet blue crystallized salt, used in electric batteries, calico printing, etc.
 Blue water, the open ocean.
 Big Blue, the International Business Machines corporation. [Wall Street slang.]
 To look blue, to look disheartened or dejected.
 True blue, genuine and thorough; not modified, nor mixed; not spurious; specifically, of uncompromising Presbyterianism, blue being the color adopted by the Covenanters.
 For his religion . . .
 'T was Presbyterian, true blue.   --Hudibras.

 Buck n.
 1. The male of deer, especially fallow deer and antelopes, or of goats, sheep, hares, and rabbits.
 Note: ☞ A male fallow deer is called a fawn in his first year; a pricket in his second; a sorel in his third; a sore in his fourth; a buck of the first head in his fifth; and a great buck in his sixth. The female of the fallow deer is termed a doe. The male of the red deer is termed a stag or hart and not a buck, and the female is called a hind.
 2. A gay, dashing young fellow; a fop; a dandy.
    The leading bucks of the day.   --Thackeray.
 3. A male Indian or negro. [Colloq. U.S.]
 Note: ☞ The word buck is much used in composition for the names of antelopes; as, bush buck, spring buck.
 Blue buck. See under Blue.
 Water buck, a South African variety of antelope (Kobus ellipsiprymnus). See Illust. of Antelope.