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Jul 21, 2017 · a blue ribbon worn as a badge of honour; thus referring to the quality of the best gin [early 19C] gin. Green's Dictionary of Slang; Green attributes this as a precursor to blue ruin, for the ruinous effect of particularly bad gin on a person's health.
I was under the impression that the phrase "mother's ruin" came from the England in the 1800's, where many people living in London did so in absolute poverty, and gin (the so-called "mother's ruin") was the cheapest way of forgetting your worries. But I've just heard a new possible origin: Canadians used actual jugs of gin as contraceptives. Hmm.
Apr 10, 2023 · My final chance is The Pocket Dictionary of American Slang (Wentworth and Flexner, Pocket Books, New York, March 1968 printing), which does provide some help: blue. adj. 1. Lewd, lascivious, obscene, erotic. Colloq. by c1900; perhaps because the color of blue is associated with burning brimstone. 2.
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 ...
Jan 30, 2021 · There is also a mention of "the blue death" in a William Herbert's "The Christian" (1846): "Pour'd the blue death on Mississippi's swamp, / And there join'd hand with that angelic curse, / Who from hot Gambia to Manhattan's mart / Spreads wide the yellow plague." It's not clear what "lurid pestilence" the poet means by "the blue death," but cholera seems a reasonable possibility.
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 ...
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 30, 2021 · Stack Exchange Network. Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.
Sep 17, 2017 · Here's an example: From Harper's Weekly, 7 October 1871 I also recall watching cartoon gangsters, from Looney Toons using this.
Jul 1, 2019 · Once in a blue moon - refers to a very rare event. To do something “once in a blue moon” is to do it very rarely: “That company puts on a good performance only once in a blue moon.” The phrase refers to the appearance of a second full moon within a calendar month, which actually happens about every thirty-two months. Source: Dictionary.com
