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# blue

«blue» in Mova's school dictionary: **the color of a clear sky or the sea** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (blue, bluer, bluest); noun (blue, blues; Australian slang: a blue — a fight or a mistake)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Blue is the color of a clear sky or the sea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#m1)

2) Feeling blue means feeling sad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#m2)

3) Blues is a kind of slow, sad music. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#m3)

4) (casual) «Out of the blue» means suddenly; «once in a blue moon» means very rarely; «until you're blue in the face» means for a long time with no result. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#m4)

5) (Australia, NZ slang) A blue is a fight or a mistake: «they had a blue»; «Bluey» is a nickname for a red-haired person. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#m5)

6) (rude) «Blue» jokes or language are rude or about sex, not for children; «turn the air blue» means swear a lot. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#m6)

7) (formal) Exams and science say «azure», «navy», «cobalt», «of a blue hue» and «a cyan pigment». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#m7)

### sense in the lessons

a color that sorts things into groups to count or compare; blue is a primary color; phrases «out of the blue» (suddenly, without warning), «once in a blue moon» (very rarely), «feel blue», «blue whale», «blue ribbon» (first prize); in casual talk «feeling a bit blue», «they had a blue» (Australia, a fight), «true blue» (Australia: loyal, real); in rough talk «he turned the air blue when he dropped the 3 eggs» (swore a lot); in the exam voice «counters of a blue hue», «the fraction of blue items», «azure»

### examples

- The bag has 6 blue marbles and 4 red ones. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x1)
- Half of the balloons are blue. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x2)
- How many more blue beads than green beads? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x3)
- The sky is blue on a sunny day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x4)
- Mix blue and yellow to make green. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x5)
- He felt blue when his friend moved away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x6)
- The blue whale is the biggest animal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x7)
- The letter came out of the blue. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x8)
- We visit the beach once in a blue moon. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x9)
- Mum and Dad had a blue about the 50-dollar bill. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x10)
- You can shout till you're blue in the face, it's still 12. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x11)
- A container holds 6 items of a blue hue and 4 of a red hue. State the fraction that is blue. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/#x12)

### note

Sorts things into groups. Trap: the blue ones are a part; the whole is the sum of all colors. «of a blue hue» in an exam just means blue. «a blue» in Australian slang is a fight, not a color. «Blue» sounds like «blew» (past of «blow»).

### In the corpora

- [A siren and flashing blue lights mean police are rushing to an emergency, and other drivers must pull over to let them through.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/30-police-courts-and-prison/5/)
- [So common questions, like why the sky is blue, get good answers, because thousands of people have explained them well.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/3-sounding-right-and-being-right/3/)
- [Ultramarine blue, made from a stone, once cost more than gold.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/13-colours-mixing-the-colour-wheel-warm-and-cool/17/)
- [Mandrills, the monkeys with red and blue faces, live in the rainforests of central Africa, not on the open savanna.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/4-the-savanna/18/)
- [Snakes shed their skin in one piece as they grow, starting at the lips, and their eyes turn cloudy blue just before.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/30-snakes-and-lizards/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «blue» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/blue/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.