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).—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.
