Apr 10, 2023 · The entry on ‘blue’ as a noun defines it as lead, and for entries using ‘blue’ as an adjective, ‘blue film/movie’ doesn’t show up at all. Here is the full quote: blue, n. Lead: 1791, Sessions Papers of the Old Bailey, Dec., ‘I asked him what he had got there; he said, a bit of blue; that is slang for lead’; app. † by ca ...

Oct 19, 2020 · The second earliest in-the-wild match (from 1832) that I found seems to play on the connection between blue from "blue devils" and blue from "turning blue" with cold. As for the place of origin of the phrase "feeling blue," it is striking that the earliest instances of "feeling blue" (from 1826), "feels blue" (from 1832), and "feel blue" (1835 ...

Jun 9, 2015 · Both "the meenester" in Hart's story and Dr. Miner (a Universalist minister) in real life are unlikely to have stood in their pulpits and filled the air with four-letter words; so it seems probable that "turning the air blue" had, as one possible meaning, loosing a cannonade or fusillade of excoriating denunciation such that the meeting place ...

The phrase “working blue” came into usage at the time. If a representative of the Keith Orpheum circuit objected to the content of an act, a request to cut the material was sent backstage in a blue envelope. So-called blue material was considered problematic enough that vaudeville listings in local papers noted which shows were “Clean ...

Apr 5, 2020 · Ye blue blazes of damnation! 1821 [Ire] ‘A Real Paddy’ Real Life in Ireland 166: Blood and blue blazes, swore old Mrs. Tarpaulin. According to the Word Detective: The choice of “blue” is probably largely due to the alliterative charm of having two initial consonants in the phrase “blue blazes.” But the fact that it’s well-known ...

Jul 21, 2017 · A blue ribbon winner would have been a craze, which may have led to its popularity being its own downfall. As public pressure against gin grew, its popularity as a blue ribbon winner might have worked against it leading to loss of sales, etc, which then led to poorer quality, cheaper product, etc., etc.

Jun 3, 2018 · wordhistories from the 1700's.. Then in the 20th century emerged the business jargon: blue sky thinking. Origin: Some people believe this began as a reference to casual contemplation — back in the days when you’d lie on your back, watching the clouds, pondering random thoughts.

May 27, 2011 · According to The Word Detective in all likelihood, the term did arise by analogy to the speed and force of a bolt of lightning, especially in “talk a blue streak,” meaning to speak rapidly and excitedly. The “blue” in “curse a blue streak” probably also invokes “blue” in …

Jun 29, 2019 · The words "blue murder" and "blue funk" have in common their use of blue as an intensifier conveying (originally, anyway) a sense of greater fear or dread. The terms first appear in Hathi Trust book searches from the period 1828—1850," and in Google Books searches from the period 1834–1857.

Jun 6, 2013 · That same reference reports that blue in the sense of "lewd, rude, suggestive" appeared in American English by 1840. The same sense of blue appears in England, too. Thus, Farmer & Henley, Slang and Its Analogues (1890) has this entry: blueness subs. (common) —Indecency. Smutty talk is described as BLUE, sense 2. Carlyle, Diderot [1840]. "The ...