Chapter Blue eyed Maid to Bluff of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Blue eyed Maid to Bluff

Blue eyed Maid (The). Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, is so called by Home.

“Now Prudence gently pulled the poet's ear,
And thus the daughter of the Blue-eyed Maid,
In Mattery's coating sounds, divinely said,
`O Peter, eldest-born of Phoebus, hear.' ”
Peter Pindar: A Falling Minister.

Blue Fish (The). The shark, technically called Carcharias glaucus, the upper parts of which are blue.

Blue Flag He has hoisted the blue flag. He has turned publican or fishmonger, in allusion to the blue apron at one time worn by publicans, and still worn by fishmongers.

Blue Gown (A). A harlot. Nares cells us that “a blue gown was a dress of ignominy for a harlot in the House of Correction. (See below.)

Blue-gowns The bedesmen, to whom the kings of Scotland distributed certain alms. Their dress was a cloak or gown of coarse blue cloth, with a pewter badge. The number of these bedesmen was equal to that of the king's years, so that are extra one was added every returning birthday. These paupers were privileged to ask alms through the whole realm of Scotland. No new member has been added since 1833. (See Gaberlunzie .)

Blue Guards (The). So the Oxford Blues, now called the Royal Horse Guards, were called during the campaign in Flanders (1742 1745).

Blue Hen Captain Caldwell used to say that no cock could be truly game whose mother was not a blue hen. As Caldwell commanded the 1st Delaware regiment in the war, the State of Delaware was nicknamed Blue Hen.
   Your mother was a blue hen, no doubt. A reproof give to a braggart. (See above.)

Blue-jackets Sailors; so called because the colour of their jackets is blue.

Blue John (A). A petrefaction of blue fluor-spar, found in the Blue John mine of Tre Cliff, Derbyshire; and so called to distinguish it from the Black Jack, an ore of zinc. Called John from John Kirk, a miner, who first noticed it.

Blue Laws (The). These were puritanical laws enacted in 1732, at New Haven, Connecticut, in the United States of America. Their object was to stamp out “heresy,” and enforce a strict observance of the Sunday. Many persons insist that they are apocryphal; but in October, 1891, the German American Lincoln Club protested against their enforcement by a democratic judge, and resolved-

“To call upon all right-thinking citizens to assist in an effort to have the laws repealed, by supporting and voting only for such candidates for the legislature as would pledge themselves to vote for their repeal.”

Blue-light Federalists A name given to those Americans who were believed to have made friendly (“blue-light”) signals to British ships in the war. (1812.)

Blue-mantle The English pursuivant at arms is so called from his official robe.

Blue Monday The Monday before Lent, spent in dissipation. (German, der blaue Montag.) It is said that dissipation gives everything a blue tinge. Hence “blue” means tipsy. (See Blue Devils .)

“Drink till all is blue.
Cracking bottles till all is blue.”
Fraser's Magazine, xvii. (1838).

Blue Moon Once in a blue moon. Very rarely indeed.
    On December 10th, 1883, we had a “blue moon.” The winter was unusually mild.

Blue Mould Applied to cheese which has become the bed of a fungus, technically called Aspergillus glaucus.
   The blue mould of bread, paste, jams, etc., is the fungus called Mucor Mucedo.

Blue Murder To shout blue murder. Indicative more of terror or alarm than of real danger. It appears to be a play on the French exclamation morbleu; there may also be a distinct allusion to the common phrase “blue ruin.”