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Blue Devils

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or A fit of the blues. A fit of spleen, low spirits. Roach and Esquirol affirm, from observation, that indigo dyers are especially subject to melancholy; and that those who dye scarlet are choleric. Paracelsus also asserts that blue is injurious to the health and spirits. There may, therefore, be more science in calling melancholy blue than is generally allowed. The German blei (lead) which gives rise to our slang word blue or bluey (lead) seems to bear upon the “leaden downcast eyes” of melancholy.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Bluebeard
Bluebeard’s Key
Blue Billy (A)
Blue Blood
Blue Boar
Blue Bonnets (The)
Blue Books
Blue Bottle
Blue Caps
Blue-coat School
Blue Devils
Blue-eyed Maid (The)
Blue Fish (The)
Blue Flag
Blue Gown (A)
Blue-gowns
Blue Guards (The)
Blue Hen
Blue-jackets
Blue John (A)
Blue Laws (The)

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Blue Monday