blues n.1
1. misery, depression, unhappiness.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Letters 11 July (1963) I. 26: I am far from being quite well, tho not troubled wth ye Blews as I have been . | |
| Pettyfogger Dramatized II vi: Now I must get drunk to-night or the damn’d horrors will get me; I shall be eat up by the blues. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Salmagundi (1860) 126: Everybody knows how provoking it is to be cut short in a fit of the blues, by an impertinent question about ‘what is the matter?’. | |
| Letters from Alabama 18 Feb. 179: If this does not cure you of the blues, nothing that I can give you will. | |
| City Looking Glass V ii: Troubled with the blues, doctor, very blue – ha, ha, ha! [...] I am resolved to be drunk. | |
| ‘Hints for an Historical Play’ in Bentley’s Misc. June 598: This gives him the ‘Blues,’ which impairs the delight / He’d have otherwise felt when they dub him a Knight. | |
| ‘The Merchant of Venice’ in Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 54: This step of the Jew’s [...] Gave the newly-made Bridegroom a fit of ‘the Blues’. | |
| Dict. Americanisms 39: the blues. A euphemism for blue devils. To have a fit of the blues, is to have a fit of the blue devils, to be low-spirited. | |
| G’hals of N.Y. 198: Now that I have reasoned you out of the blues, let’s wet with a little red-eye! | |
![[Ind]](/static/img/flags/ind.png "India") | Delhi Sketch Bk 1 Apr. 40/2: He traced / [...] / the Blues, ’mongst other causes, / To the use of morning nips. | |
| Kate Coventry (1865) 76: The moat alone is enough to give one the blues. | |
| Christy and Fox’s Complete Melodist and Joke-Book in (2001) n.p.: ‘Julius, what’s the matter with you this evening — you seem so down-hearted.’ ‘Sam, I got a touch ob de blues.’. | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 101/1: Tu ’ell wi’ thes game; et give mi t’ blues t’ b’ sittin’ ’ere loike a bloody dummy. | |
| Wanderings of a Vagabond 406: A single day in the quiet town of Jeffersonville was sufficient to give one the blues. | |
| Won in a Canter I 33: Ali the men in his regiment had thebluess when he left. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Knocknagow 187: He has cured me of a severe fit of the blues. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Apr. 4/2: [F]eeling that, after an acute attack of the ‘blues,’ we had a desire to be in love and charity with all men – hard though it be; for included in that all are some of the greatest scoundrels yet unhung […]. | |
| ‘’Arry on ’appiness’ in Punch 3 Jan. 4/1: You’ll be thinking I’ve got the blue-mouldies, old man, and you won’t be fur hout. | |
| Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 17 Aug. 10/1: To drive away a fit of the blues, or pass a social hour [...] we commend our readers to Benjamin Penn. | |
| ‘Meeting Old Mates’ in Roderick (1972) 166: Pretty soon you get the blues badly, and feel nearly smothered in there. | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 8 Dec. 148: When I got back to school, I found Cobb in a fit of blues. | |
| Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 25 Dec. 15/3: I hate the sea [...] it always gets on my nerves and gives me the blues. | |
| Abbeville Press & Banner 28 Apr. 5/5: The ‘blues’ is a subject which deserves the biggest attention [...] We coime in contact with many ‘blues’, [...] the Monday morning ‘blues’ [...] the ‘crazy blues’ very common among boys [...] His girl gives him the ‘high foot’ [...] His heart is sad. He has those ‘crazy blues’. | |
| (con. 1917) Mattock 224: I figured he must be down in the dumps with the blues. | |
| (con. 1917–19) Nineteen Nineteen in USA (1966) 576: I’ve got the blues / I’ve got the blues / I’ve got the alcoholic blues. | |
| Really the Blues 4: They taught me the blues in Pontiac – I mean the blues, blues that I felt from my head to my shoes, really the blues. | |
| Walk on the Wild Side 80: Early in the morning before day / That’s when my blues come falling down. | |
| Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 21: I’ve got an attack of the blues. | |
| Airtight Willie and Me 39: I slipped on a mournful mask, faking the emotions of a dude with hurtful blues. | |
| ‘From Prussia With Love’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] She’s just got like baby blues that’s all. | |
| Guardian G2 19 July 23: The gripping, terrible pathos of his sidekick’s post-divorce blues. | |
| Pimp’s Rap 63: The blue was on her face as she held her head down. | |
| Indep. Rev. 16 Feb. 7: Millions swear by St John’s Wort, the natural way to lift the blues. | |
| Intractable [ebook] ‘To The Don, for making it through the prison blues, lotsa love Gabs & Kathy’. |
2. a problem.
| Ringolevio 221: The agents simply suggested that the brevity of his return home was his own blues. |
In phrases
to act sanctimoniously.
| Morn. Post 18 Dec. 3/3: To the chaplain if he’ll listen and come the holy blues. |
1. (US) to complain, to whinge, to bemoan one’s lot.
| Pal Joey 23: Just think a year ago you were the one crying the blues. | |
| Harder They Fall (1971) 216: Miniff came crying the blues louder than ever. | |
| Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 25 Feb. 20/1: Harlem mammas shouting the blues. | |
 | Courier-Post (Camden, NJ) 2 Nov. 8/6: Reading all those yes votes crying the blues must bring tears to the eyes. | |
| Petaluma Argus-Courier (CA) 2 Dec. 8/1: Folks who were crying the blues because it didn’t rain, will soon by crying the blues if it doesn’t stop. | |
| Courier Times (Levittown, PA) 4 Feb. 6/5: Everything is crying the blues business-wise. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 64: He comes back to Bel-Air and cries the blues to the pro. Tells him he’s got to see his dying aunt, or go to the hospital for some tests. | |
| Corner (1998) 179: He keeps crying the blues about his damn Easter outfit. | |
| ‘Trill Niggaz Don’t Die’ 🎵 Some niggaz getting bruised, some always crying the blues. |
2. to mourn, to regret.
| Mad mag. Jan.–Feb. 48: So how come you don’t cry the blues for him? |
3. to make a request, to demand.
| ‘Boys of Summer’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 1 [TV script] They want one debate for crime and safety [...] Tony Gray cryin’ the same blues. |
1. in debt, in difficulties.
| Mail (Adelaide) 21 Feb. 2/5: The scheme has been kicked clean off its actuarial and insurance basis and is now in the blue. | |
| Aus. Lang. |
2. out of control.
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. | |
| I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 234/2: in the blue – out of control. |
1. suffering a fit of delirium tremens [blue devils n.].
| Mercury (Hobart) 23 Apr. 2/5: [from the Stranraer Free Press] [...] in the shakes, in the blues. | |
| DSUE (8th edn) 104: from ca. 1850. |
2. depressed.
| Little Ragamuffin 115: Reg’lar in the blues you climbs up into your wan. | |
| Fifth Form at St Dominic’s (1890) 214: ‘I don’t mean to punish myself by getting in the blues’. |
to complain, to whinge.
| Diary of a Doughboy 19 Sept. 🌐 And I’m not singing the ‘Blues’ either, for it’s a actual fact for I feel like my stomach is touching my backbone. | |
| Lincoln Jrnl Star (NE) 5 July 23/1: When you unload your troubles on a friend [...] you are ‘singing the blues’. | |
| Gangster Girl 3: You came in here carryin’ the banner and singin’ the blues. | |
| (con. 1920s) Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 361: ‘You singin’ the blues again?’ asked Slug. | |
| On Broadway 16 Dec. [synd. col.] All look healthy, even though they still sing the blues about ‘No dough.’. | |
| East of Farewell 112: Pipe down [...] You’re always singin’ the blues. | |
| Really the Blues 164: ‘The hell with it, Josh,’ I sighed, singing the blues for real. | |
| Yes We have No 186: I don’t mean to sing the blues. | |
| Big Boat to Bye-Bye 1: Normally when I sing the blues I keep it in the shower and spare the staff. But this wasn’t normal. |
to be very unhappy.
| Courier-Jrnl (Louisville, KY) 10 Sept. 12/5: They’re all ‘sobbing the blues’ — squawking their heads off. | |
| Akron Beacon Jrnl (OH) 4 Oct. 19/5: Businessmen are sitting around sucking their thumbs and sobbing the blues. | |
| (con. 1920s) Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 538: With [...] my old man sobbing the blues every night about how broke he is. | |
| Altoona Trib. (PA) 12 July 9/3: Man, we’re really sobbing the blues over this. | |
| Arizona Republican (Phoeniz, AZ) 15 Jan. 47/7: [small ad.] Seller sobbing the blues & will sacrifice this 4 Br plus huge farmhouse. | |
| Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) 16 Apr. 66/2: Pressure from a parent or boss may have you sobbing the blues. | |
| Star Gaz. (Elmira, NY) 19 Apr. 11/4: After months of sobbing the blues over New York [the] executive’s office is singing a happier tune. |