Link Centre Dictionary

blues

UK/bluːz/ US/ˈbluz/ fairly common informal slang

noun

1.

a type of folksong that originated among Black Americans at the beginning of the 20th century; has a melancholy sound from repeated use of blue notes

2.

a state of depression

  • “he had a bad case of the blues”
Synonyms

Origin

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin venetī (“Sea-Blues”) or factio veneta (“the sea-blue faction”) and Byzantine Greek Βένετοι (Bénetoi, “Blues”).

Phrases

  • Arctic blues
  • baby blues
  • blue note
  • blues and twos
  • blues scale
  • Chicago blues
  • classic female blues
  • club blues

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.