blowpipe 
II. fl. Relating in any way to a blowpipe, or 
r j. j ,_._._ .-j- .^ _,..._, __ 
the blowpipe; conduct chemical experiments 
or perform mechanical operations by means of 
the blowpipe. 
blow-pointt (blo'point), n. A game supposed 
to have consisted in blowing small pins or ar- 
rows through a tube at certain numbers. 
Shortly boys shall not play 
At span-counter or Mow-point, but shall pay 
Toll to some courtier. Donne, Satires, iv. 
blowse 1 , n. See blouse. 
blowse 2 , . See blowze. 
blpwser (blou'zer), n. [E. dial.] In pilchard- 
Jishing, on the south coast of England, one of 
the men engaged in landing and carrying the 
fish to the curing-houses. Encyc. Brit., IX. 254. 
blowth (bloth), n. [< Umifi + -tli, after grow th, 
< grow.'] Bloom or blossom; blossoms in a col- 
lective sense ; the state of blossoming. [Now 
only dialectal in S. W. England (in the form 
blooth) and in New England.] 
The seeds and effects . . . were as yet but potential, and 
in the blowth and bud. Raleigh, Hist. World, I. ix. 3. 
With us a single blossom is a blow, while blowth means 
the blossoming in general. A farmer would say that there 
was a good blowth on his fruit-trees. 
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., Int. 
blow-through (blo'thro), a. Pertaining to or 
used in the process of blowing through (which 
see, under blow 1 , v., I.) Blow-through cock, a 
faucet through which the air that may be contained in a 
steam-chamber is blown out when steam is admitted. 
Blow-through valve, a valve in the opening through 
which steam enters a condensing steam-engine, used in 
blowing through. 
blow-tube (blo'tub), ?i. 1. A hollow iron rod, 
from 5 to 6 feet long, by blowing through which 
a glass-blower expands the semi-fluid metal 
gathered on its further end while shaping it on 
the marver. 2. Same as blow-gun. 
blow-up (blo'up), n. [From the phrase to blow 
up: see blow^, v., II.] 1. A scolding: a quarrel. 
[Colloq.] 
The Captain . . . gave him a grand blow-up, in true 
nautical style. R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 22. 
2. One of the rooms in a sugar-refinery, usu- 
ally on the top floor, where the raw sugar is 
first melted Blow-up pan, in sugar-re/ining, the 
pan in which the raw sugar, after being sifted, is placed 
with water to be dissolved. At the bottom of the pan is 
a perforated steam-pipe through which steam blows up 
through the solution ; hence the name of the pan and of 
the room in which the operation is carried on. 
blow-valve (blo'valv), n. The snifting-valve 
of a condensing-engine. 
blow-well (blo'wel), n. In some parts of Eng- 
land, a popular name for an artesian well. 
At Merton in Surrey, at Brighton, at Southampton, all 
along the east coast of Lincolnshire, and in the low dis- 
trict between the chalk wolds near Loiith and the Wash, 
Artesian borings have long been known, and go by the 
name of blow-wells among the people of the district. 
Encyc. Brit., II. 646. 
blowy (blo'i), a. [< blow''- + -yi.] Windy; 
blowing; breezy. 
blowze (blouz), n. [Also spelled blowse, blouse, 
blouze, E. dial, blawse; cf. blowess. Origin un- 
certain.] If. A beggar's trull ; a beggar wench ; 
a wench. 
Wed without my advice, my love, my knowledge, 
Ay, and a beggar, too, a trull, a blowse ! 
Chapman, All Fools, iv. 1. 
Venus herself, the queen of Cytheron, ... is but a 
blowze. Shirley, Love Tricks, iii. 6. 
2. A ruddy, fat-faced wench ; a blowzy wo- 
man: applied in Shakspere to an infant. 
Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom sure. 
Shak., Tit. And., iv. 2. 
blowzed(blouzd),n. [< blowze + -ed2.] Blowzy; 
made ruddy and coarse-complexioned, as by ex- 
posure to the weather; fat and high-colored. 
I don't like to see my daughters trudging up to their 
pew all blowzed and red with walking. 
Goldsmith, Vicar, x. 
Huge women blowzed with health and wind and rain. 
Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
blowzillg (blou'zing), a. [< blowze + -ing?.] 
Blowzy; flaunting; fluffy: as, "that blowing 
wig of his," J. Baillie. 
blowzy (blou'zi),n. [< blowze + -yl.] 1. Ruddy- 
faced; fat and ruddy; high-colored. 
A face made blowzy by cold and damp. 
George Eliot, Silas Marner, xi. 
2. Disheveled ; unkempt : as, blowzy hair. 
B. L. R. An abbreviation of breecli-loading 
rifle or breech-loading rifled : used in the tech- 
nical description of guns. 
In naval service B. L. R. guns of cast-iron, strengthened 
by rings, have been employed, ranging from 70 to 800- 
pounders. Encyc. Brit., II. 665 
598 
blubt (blub), v. [Var. of blob; cf. blubber.] 
1. trans. To swell ; puff out. 
My face was blown and blub'd with dropsy wan. 
Mir. for Mags., p. 112. 
II. intrans. To swell; protrude. 
blubber (blub'er), v. [Also blubber; < ME. Uub- 
ren, bloberen, weep, earlier bubble, boil, as wa- 
ter in agitation. Cf. G. dial, blubbern, cast up 
bubbles, as water, LG. herut blubbern, bab- 
ble, chatter. Appar. an imitative word, hav- 
ing, like many such, a freq. form. The short 
forms blub and blob are modern. Cf. blub, blob, 
blab, bleb.] I. intrans. 1. To weep, especially 
in such a manner as to swell the cheeks or dis- 
figure the face ; burst into a fit of weeping : used 
chiefly in sarcasm or ridicule. 
Even so lies she, 
Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering. 
Shak.,R. and J., iii. 3. 
Hector's infant blubber'd at a plume. Mrs. Browning. 
2f. To bubble ; foam. 
Ther faure citees wern set, nov is a see called, 
That ay is drouy & dym, & ded in hit kynde, 
Bio, blubrande, & blak, vnblythe to liege. 
Alliterative Poem* (ed. Morris), ii. 1017. 
II. trans. To disfigure with weeping, 
blubber (blub'er), n. [Also blabber; < ME. blub- 
ber, a bubble, bluber, blober, surge, agitation of 
water, bubble: see the verb.] If. A bubble. 
At his mouth a blubber stode of fome. 
Henryson, Test, of Creseide, 1. 192. 
2. The fat of whales and other cetaceans, from 
which train-oil is obtained. The blubber lies under 
the skin and over the muscles. The whole quantity yield- 
ed by a large whale ordinarily amounts to 40 or 60 hun- 
dredweight, but sometimes to 80 or more. 
3. A gelatinous substance ; hence, an acaleph 
or sea-nettle; a medusa. 4. [< blubber, v.] 
The act or state of blubbering: as, to be in a 
blubber. 5. One who blubs. Carlyle. 
blubbered (blub'erd), p. a. [Pp. of blubber, v.] 
Swollen; big; turgid: as, a blubbered lip; "her 
blubbered cheeks," Dryden, Ceyx and Alcyone, 
1. 392. 
blubberer (blub'er-er), n. One who blubbers. 
blubber-lip (blub'er-lip), n. [< blubber + Up.] 
A swollen lip; a thick lip, such as that of a 
negro. Also written blobber-lip. 
His blubber-lips and beetle-brows commend. 
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, iii. 
blubber-lipped (blub'er-lipt), a. [ME. blaber- 
lipped; < blubber + lip + -ed*.] Having blub- 
ber-lips. Also written blobber-lipped: as, "a 
blobber-lipped shell," N. Grew. 
blubber-spade (blub'er-spad), . [< blubber 
(whale's blubber) + spade.] A keen-edged 
spade used to remove the layer of blubber which 
envelops a whale's body. 
blubbery (blub'er-i), a. [< blubber + -yi.] 
Resembling blubber; fat, as a cetacean. 
blucher (blo'cher), n. A strong leather half- 
boot or high shoe, named after Field-marshal 
von Blucher, commander of the Prussian army 
in the later campaigns against Napoleon. 
He was, altogether, as roystering and swaggering a 
young gentleman as ever stood four feet six, or something 
less, in his bluchers. Dickens, Oliver Twist. 
bludgeon (bluj'on), n. [Not found before 
1730 (Bailey); origin unknown. A plausible 
conjecture connects it with D. bludsen, blutsen, 
bruise, beat (parallel with butsen with same 
meaning: see botch%). The E. word, if from 
this source, may have been introduced as a 
cant term in the Elizabethan period, along 
with many other cant terms from the D. which 
never, or not until much later, emerged in 
literary use.] A heavy stick, particularly one 
with one end loaded or thicker and heavier 
than the other, used as an offensive weapon. 
Arms were costly, and the greater part of the fyrd 
came equipped with bludgeons and hedge-stakes, which 
could do little to meet the spear and battle-axe of the 
invader. J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 127. 
blue (bio), a. and n. [Early mod. E. reg. blew, 
blewe, rarely blue; < ME. blew, blewe, occasion- 
ally bluwe, blue, blwe, blu, bleu, possibly < AS. 
*bl(ew (in deriv. blwwen, bluish) for *blciir 
(whence the reg. ME. bio, bloo, mod. E. dial. 
blow, north. ME. bla, blaa, mod. north. E. and 
Sc. blae, blea, after the Scand. : see blae) (cf . 
E. mew, < AS. mmo, a gull) ; but more prob. 
from, and in any case merged with, OF. bleu, 
blef, mod. F. bleu = Pr. blau, fern, blava = QSp. 
blavo, Sp. Pg. blao = It. biavo (obs. or dial.) 
(cf. mod. It. blu,< F. or E.),< ML. bldvus, bldvius, 
< OHG. blao (blaw-), MUG. bid (blaw-), G. blau 
= MD. blaeuw, D. blaauw = OFries. blaw = 
MLG. bla, bldtc, blauwe, LG. blau, blaag, blue, = 
blue 
AS. *bldw (above) = Icel. bldr = Sw. bid = Dan. 
blaa, blue, livid (see blue); perhaps = L. Jldvus, 
yellow (color-names being variable in applica- 
tion). Some of the uses of blue originally be- 
longed to the parallel form blae in the sense of 
'livid,' as in black and blue.] I. a. 1. Of the 
color of the clear sky; of the color of the 
spectrum between wave-lengths .505 and .415 
micron, and more especially .487 to .460, or of 
such light mixed with white ; azure ; cerulean. 
2. Livid; lead-colored: said of the skin or 
complexion as affected by cold, contusion, or 
fear (see blae) : hence the phrase black and blue. 
See black. 3. Figuratively, afflicted with low 
spirits; despondent; depressed; hypochondria- 
cal ; having the blues. 
E'en I or you, 
If we'd nothing to do, 
Should find ourselves looking remarkably blue. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 10. 
Sir Lucius looked blue, but he had hedged. 
Disraeli, Young Duke, ii. 5. 
4. Dismal ; unpromising : applied to things : as, 
a blue lookout. [Colloq.] 5. Inflexible ; rigid ; 
strict in morals or religion; puritanic: as, a blue 
Presbyterian : often in the form true blue (which 
see, below). 6. [With ref. to blue-stocking, q. 
v.] Learned; pedantic: applied to women. 
Some of the ladies were very blue and well informed. 
Thackeray. 
7. Indecent: obscene: as. blue stories. [Colloq.] 
Black and blue. See Mac*. Blue antelope. Same 
as blauit'bok. Blue asbestos. See crocidohte. Blue 
ashes, a hydrated basic copper carbonate, prepared arti- 
ficially. It is found native (" mountain blue ") in Cum- 
berland, England. Blue beech. Same as water-beech. 
Blue bindweed, blood, bream, carmine, clay, etc. 
See the nouns. Blue copperas. Same as Milestone. 
Blue flesh-fly. Same as bluebottle, 2. Blue funk, ex- 
treme nervousness or nervous agitation ; nervous appre- 
hension or dread. Blue glass, glass colored with cobalt 
manganese. Blue ground. Same as blue rock (b or c). 
Blue lake, a pigment similar to Antwerp blue. Blue 
magnetism, that which characterizes the south pole of 
a magnet. Blue malachite. See malachite. Blue met- 
al,copper at a certain stage in the process of refining. 
Blue milk, Monday, etc. See the nouns. Blue 
OCher. See ocher. Blue pole, the south pole of a mag- 
net. Blue pulp, a name of various mixtures known to 
calico-printers and -dyers, made up of yellow prussiate of 
potash and protochlorid or bichlorid of tin and water. 
Blue ribbon. See ribbon. Blue rock, (a) The name 
in parts of Irejand of an are naceous shale, (b) In Austra- 
lia, the volcanic (basaltic) m aterial in places overlying the 
Tertiary auriferous gravels, (c) The bluish-colored matrix 
in which the South African diamonds are often found em- 
bedded. It is a kind of breccia. Blue sand, a cobalt 
smalt used by potters for painting blue figures on pottery. 
Blue shark. See shark. Blue verdlter. Same as 
Bremen blue (see below). Blue vitriol. See vitriol. 
Tq burn blue, to burn with a bluish flame like that of 
brimstone. True blue (that is, genuine, lasting blue: 
blue being taken aa a type of constancy, and used in this 
and other phrases often with an added allusion to some 
other sense of blue], constant ; unwavering; stanch; ster- 
ling ; unflinching ; upright and downright : specifically 
applied to the Scotch Presbyterians or Whig party in tiie 
seventeenth century, from the color (blue) adopted by the 
Covenanters in contradistinction to the royal red. 
II. n. 1. The color of the clear sky or of 
natural ultramarine, or a shade or a tint re- 
sembling it; azure. See I., 1. 2. A dye or pig- 
ment of this hue. The substances used as blue pig- 
ments are of very different natures, and derived from va- 
rious sources ; they are all compound bodies, some being 
natural and others artificial. See phrases below. 
3. Bluing. 4. The sky; the atmosphere. [Po- 
etic.] 
I came and sat 
Below the chestnuts, when their buds 
Were glistening in the breezy blue. 
Tennyson, Miller's Daughter. 
5. The sea; the deep sea. [Poetic.] 6. A 
member of a party, or of any company of per- 
sons, which has adopted blue as its distinctive 
color. 7. The heavy winter coat of the deer. 
See phrase in the blue, below. 8. A butterfly 
of the family Lyccenida;, found in Great Britain 
and other parts of Europe. 9. [Short for blue- 
stocking.] A pedantic woman. 
Next to a lady I must bid adieu 
Whom some in mirth or malice call a blue. 
Crabbe. 
Alexandria blue, a pigment used by the ancient Egyp- 
tians, composed of the silicates of copper and lime. Also 
called Bi/iiiitian blue. Alizarin blue, Ci 7 H 9 NO 4 , a coal- 
tar color used for dyeing, prepared by heating iiitro-aliza- 
rin with glycerin and sulphuric acid, and afterward wash- 
ing with water. It occurs in commerce as a dark-violet 
paste containing about 10 per cent, of dry substance, and is 
used in wool-dyeing and calico-printing in place of indigo, 
under certain conditions. Also called anthracene bhu 1 . 
Alkali blue, in dyeing, a coal-tar color used for bright- 
blue shades on silk and wool, but ur.suitod for cotton, 
because it will not combine with acid mordants. It con- 
sists essentially of the sodium salt of monosulphonic acid 
of rosaniline blue, and is applied in a slightly alkaline 
bath (hence the name). Also called fast blue and Guern- 
*v;/ Wee.- Aniline blue, a generic name for spirit-blue, 
soluble blue, ami alkali blue. See these terms. Anthra- 
