bluefish 
2. An occasional (New England) name of the 
common cunner, Ctenolabrus adspcrsus. See 
cwmer. 3. A Calif ornian scia?noid fish, Cyno- 
scion parripinne, related to the weakfish of the 
eastern United States. 4. A pimelepteroid 
fish of the Pacific coast of the United States, 
G-irelld nit/ric/iiis, of a bluish-brown color, with 
tricuspid incisors in an outer row, and a band 
of smaller teeth within. 5. A West Indian 
and Floridian labroid fish, Platyglossus radiattis, 
with 9 dorsal spines, cheeks and opercles naked, 
and well-developed posterior canines. The adult 
is azure-blue, with a longitudinal band on the anal fln and 
a blue margin on the dorsal. 
blue-glede (blo'gled), n. An English name of 
the ring-tailed harrier, Circus cyaneus. Also 
called blue-kite and blue-hawk. 
blue-gown (blo'goun), n. One of a former order 
of paupers in Scotland, also called the king's 
beadsmen, to whom the king annually distrib- 
uted certain alms on condition of their praying 
for his welfare. Their number was equal to the num- 
ber of years the king had lived. The alms consisted of a 
blue gowu or cloak, a purse containing as many shillings 
Scots (pennies sterling) as the years of the king's age, and 
a badge bearing the words " Pass and repass," which pro- 
tected them from all laws against mendicity. Edie Ochil- 
tree, in Sir W. Scott's novel " The Antiquary," is a type of 
the class. The practice of appointing beadsmen was dis- 
continued in 1833. 
blue-grass (blo'gras), n. [< blue + grass. Cf. 
Icel. bld-gras (Geranium pratenge).] In bot., 
the name of several species of Poa. The blue- 
grass of England is P. compressa ; of Kentucky, jP. pra- 
tenxis. highly valued in the United States for pasturage 
and hay ; and of Texas, P. arachnifera. The red-tooped 
blue-grass of Montana and westward is P. tenutfofia. 
Blue-grass region. See grass. 
blue-gum (blo'gum), n. 1. In pathol., a blue 
coloration of the free edge of the gums, fre- 
quent in cases of lead-poisoning. 2. The blue- 
gum tree Blue-gum tree, the Eucalyptus t/lobulus, 
an important tree of Australia, of extremely rapid growth, 
and known to have attained a height of 360 feet. It is 
reputed to be a preventive of malaria, and is now largely 
planted in California and other countries. Its leaves are 
odoriferous when bruised, and are used as a febrifuge. 
blue-haflt (bio/ haf " it), n. A local Scotch 
name of the bird better known as the hedge- 
chanter, Accentor modularis. See cut under 
Accentor. 
blue-hawk (blo'hak), n. 1. Same as blue-glede. 
2. The adult peregrine falcon, Falco pere- 
grinus. 3. The American goshawk, Astur atri- 
capillus. 
blue-hearts (blo'harts), . The common name 
of Buchnera Americana, natural order Scrophu- 
lariacece, a perennial herb with deep-purple 
flowers. 
blue-hot (blo'hot), a. Blue with heat : said of 
a body at so high a temperature that the more 
refrangible rays, that is, the blue and violet, 
preponderate in its total radiation, so that the 
light it emits appears blue. 
blueing, . See bluing. 
blue-jack (blo'jak), . A species of oak, Quer- 
cus cincrea, a small tree with hard, strong, and 
heavy wood, found on the coasts of the south- 
ern United States. 
blue-jacket (bio' jak"et), n. 1 . In the naval ser- 
vice, a sailor as distinguished from a marine: 
so called from the color of his jacket. 2. A 
name given in the United States to hymeuop- 
terous insects of the family Sphegida. The pre- 
dominant color is blue. The best-known are the Pelopceus 
ccemleux, a northern species, and the Chlorion cyaneum, 
whose range is more to the south. Both are known un- 
der the collective name of mud-daubers. See cuts under 
AmmophUa, digger-wasp, and mud-dauber. 
blue-John (blo'jon), n. The local name in Der- 
byshire, England, of a blue variety of fluor- 
spar. 
Blue John was a name given by the miners who first 
discovered it to a variety of fluor spar, in order to distin- 
guish it from Black Jack, which is an ore of zinc. 
N. and Q., 6th ser., XII. 508. 
bluejoint-grass (blo'joint-gras), n. A common 
name in the United States of two stout bluish- 
stemmed grasses, Deyeuxia (Calamagrostis) Ca- 
nadensis, and, west of the Eocky Mountains, 
Agropyrum alaucum. 
blue-kite (b'lo'kit), . Same as blue-glede. 
blue-laid (blo'lad), a. In paper-making, having 
a blue tinge : said of a class of laid papers. 
blue-laws (blo'laz), n. pi. A supposititious 
code of severe laws for the regulation of re- 
ligious and personal conduct in the colonies of 
Connecticut and New Haven ; hence, any rigid^ 
Sunday laws or religious regulations. The asser- 
tion by some writers of the existence of the blue laws has 
no other basis than the adoption by the first authorities of 
the New Haven colony of the Scriptures as their code of 
law and government, and their strict application of Mosaic 
principles. 
600 
blue-leg (blo'leg), n. [A sportive adaptation 
of blue-stocking, .] A blue-stocking ; a literary 
person. 
When Madame de Staei resided at Coppet, it was her 
custom to collect around her in the evening a circle of 
literati, the blue legs of Geneva, by some one of whom an 
essay, a disquisition, or a portion of a work in progress, 
was frequently read aloud to entertain the rest. 
Southty, The Doctor, i. 84. 
blueling (blo'ling), w. [< blue + -ling 1 .] A small 
butterfly of the genus Polyommatus or Lyccena, 
notable for its blue color. 
bluely (blo'li), adv. With a blue color. Swift. 
blue-mantle (blo'man/tl), n. The title of one 
of the English pursuivants-at-arms. The ofBce 
was instituted either by Edward HI. or by Henry V., and 
named in allusion to the robes of the order of the Garter, 
or, as some suppose, to the color of the arms of France. 
blue-mass (blo'mas), n. A drug made by rub- 
bing up metallic mercury with confection of 
roses until all the globules disappear. Of this 
blue-pills are made. 
blue-metal (blo'mef'al), w. See blue metal, un- 
der metal. 
blue-mold (blo'mold), n. A common minute 
fungus, Penicillium erustaceum, of bluish or 
greenish color, 
found on moldy 
bread and a 
large number 
of foods and 
other substan- 
ces. The myceli- 
um or spawn sends 
up numerous slen- 
der filaments or hy- 
phae, which branch 
at the top and bear 
chains of repro- 
ductive cells or co- 
nidia. In rare cases 
spores are pro- 
duced in asci. 
blueness (blo'- 
nes), . [< blue 
+ -ness.] The 
quality of be- 
ing blue in any 
sense. 
blue-nose (blo'noz), . 1. A native of Nova 
Scotia: a colloquial designation, in allusion 
either to the hue given to the noses of its in- 
habitants by its severe winter, or to a kind of 
potato so named which is largely produced 
there. Haliburton. 2. A Nova Scotian vessel. 
blue-Ointment (blo'oinf'ment), n. Mercurial 
ointment. 
blue-paidle (blo'pa"dl), . A Scotch name of 
the lumpsucker. 
blue-paper (blo'pa'per), n. Paper sensitive to 
light, prepared by floating white paper on a 
solution of potassium ferrocyanide. it is used 
for copying maps and plans, printing photographic nega- 
tives, etc. After exposure to light during a proper inter- 
val beneath the subject to be reproduced, the print is 
finished by immersion in several changes of clean water, 
which dissolves from the paper that part of the ferro- 
prussiate which has not been acted upon by light, and 
brings out a fine blue color in place of the original dull 
gray or greenish color, in those portions of the surface 
which have been affected. Called in the trade blue-pro- 
cess paper. 
blue-perch (blo'perch), . 1. A local name of 
the common New England cunner, Ctenolalirus 
adspersus. See cut under cunner. 2. A Cali- 
fornian embiotocoid fish, Ditrema laterals, a 
kind of surf-fish. 
blue-peter (blo'pe'ter), n. [< blue + peter, 
orig. repeater : 
see peter, re- 
peater.] Naut., a 
blue flag having 
a white square 
in the center, 
hoisted at the 
fore royalmast- 
head of mer- 
chant vessels as 
a signal that the 
ship is ready to 
sail, to recall 
boats, etc. 
A large brand-new red ensign pulling in rich color at 
the halliards at the peak, and blue Peter lazily fluttering 
above the fore-royaJ-yard. 
W. C. Russell, A Strange Voyage, iv. 
blue-pie (blo'pi), n. One of the species of 
Asiatic jays of the genus Urocissa. 
blue-pigeon (bio ' pij ' on), n. A name for a 
sounding-lead. 
blue-pike (blo'pik), . A local name in the 
United States of the wall-eyed pike-perch, Sti- 
zostedwn (or Lucioperca) vitreum. 
Blue-peter. 
bluet 
blue-pill (blii'pil'), n. A pill made from blue- 
mass. 
blue-pipe (blo'pip), n. The common lilac. 
Kay. 
blue-pod (blo'pod), n. The name in California 
of species of Godetia, natural order Onat/racece, 
noxious weeds, with showy purple flowers. 
blue-poker (blo'po'ker), n. The pochard, FH- 
Kgula (or Aythya) fcrina. See pochard. [Lo- 
cal in Great Britain.] 
blue-pot (blo'pot), . A black-lead crucible 
made of a mixture of coarse plumbago and clay. 
blue-pox (blo'poks), n. Malignant pustule. 
blue-print (blo'print), n. An impression pro- 
duced by blue-printing. 
blue-printing (blo'prin"ting), n. A method of 
photo-printing by the agency of paper sensi- 
tized with ferroprussiate of potash. See blue- 
paper. 
blue-racer (blo'ra"ser), . A local name in the 
western United States of a variety of the com- 
mon black-snake, Jiascanion constrictor flavi- 
ventris. 
blue-rock (blo'rok), w. A popular name of the 
commonest variety of domestic pigeon, Colnm- 
ba livia, of a bluish color, with two black bands 
on the wings. 
blue-ruin (blo'ro'in), n. A cant name for gin, 
rum, etc., especially when bad. 
bluesides (blo'sidz), . A half-grown harp- 
seal, Phoca gronilandica. 
blue-snapper (bl6'snap*'er), n. A local name 
in Massachusetts of the bluefish, Pomatomus 
saltatrix. 
blue-spar (blo'spar), , Azure-spar ; lazulite. 
bluestart (blo'start), n. [< blue + startf, tail: 
= G. blausterz. Cf. redstart = G. rothsterz.] 
A name of the blue-tailed warbler, lanthia cy- 
anura. 
blue-Stem (blo'stem), n. The name of some 
coarse but useful grasses in the United States, 
chiefly Andropogon furcatus east of the Rocky 
Mountains, and Agropyrum glaucum further 
westward. 
blue-Stocking (blb"stok"ing), a. and n. I. a. 
Wearing blue stockings; specifically, wearing 
blue or gray worsted stockings, as opposed to 
those of black silk worn in court or ceremonial 
dress ; hence, not in full dress ; in plain dress, 
(a) Applied to the Little Parliament of 1663. 
That Bleic-stocleinff Parliament, Barebone Parliament, a 
companie of fellowes called togeather by Cromwell. 
Sir J. Bramston, Autobiog. (ed. 1845), p. 89. (JV. E. D.) 
((>) Applied to assemblies held in London about 1750 at 
the houses of Mrs. Montague and other ladies, in which 
literary conversation and other intellectual enjoyments 
were substituted for cards and gossip, and which were 
characterized by a studied plainness of dress on the part 
of some of the guests. Among these was Mr. Benjamin 
Stillingfleet, who always wore blue stockings, and in ref- 
erence to whom, especially, the coterie was called in de- 
rision the "Blue-stocking Society" or the " Blue-stocking 
Club," and the members, especially the ladies, " blue- 
stockingers," "blue-stocking ladies," and later simply 
"blue-stockings" or "blues." 
II. n. 1. A member of the "Blue-stocking 
Club," especially a woman (see above) ; by ex- 
tension, any woman with a taste for learning or 
literature ; a literary woman : originally used 
in derision or contempt, and implying a neglect 
on the part of such women of their domestic 
duties or a departure from their "proper 
sphere"; now hardly used except historically or 
humorously. 2. A name of the American avo- 
set, Eecurrirostra americana. See avoset. [Lo- 
cal, U. 8.] 
blne-stockingism (blo'stok'ing-izm), . [< 
blue-stocking + -ism.] The character, manner, 
or habits of a blue-stocking ; female learning 
or pedantry. 
blue-stone (blS'ston), . 1. Sulphate of cop- 
per, or blue vitriol. Also called blue copperas. 
2. A name given to a more or less argilla- 
ceous sandstone of bluish color, extensively 
quarried at various points along the Hudson 
river, and used for building purposes and for 
flagging. Most of the quarries of this rock are in the 
Lower Silurian (Hudson river group), but the important 
ones at Maiden are in the Devonian (lower part of the 
Portage group). [In this sense commonly as one word.] 
bluet (blS'et), . [(1) < ME. bluett, Monet, < F. 
(OF.) bluette, a kind of woolen cloth, prop. fern, 
dim. of bleu, blue. (2) Also bleu-et, blcirit, < F. 
bluet, " blew-blaw, blew-bottle, corn-flower, 
hurt-sickle" (Cotgrave), masc. dim. of bleu, 
blue: see blue and -et. ] If. A kind of woolen 
cloth of a bluish color. 2. In bot., a name 
given to several plants with blue flowers: (a) 
to the bluebottle, Centaurea Cytnius ; (b) in the 
United States, to Houstonia '(formerly Oh/oi- 
latidia) cairulea ; (c) to a species of bilberry. 
