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blue-chip (adj.)1904 in reference to the high-value poker counter, also in the figurative sense of "valuable;" stock exchange sense, in reference to "shares considered a reliable investment," is first recorded 1929; especially of stocks that saw spectacular rises in value in the four years or so before the Wall Street crash of that year wiped out most of it. See blue (adj.1) + chip (n.1).
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blue peter (n.)
Related entries & more a nautical term for a blue flag having a white square in the center, hoisted at the fore royal masthead as a signal to report on board as the vessel is about to go to sea, attested by c. 1800, from blue (adj.1), but the significance of peter is uncertain and disputed. Two common guesses are that it is an abbreviation of repeater or that it stands for French partir.
blue-blood (adj.)1809 in reference to the blood that flows in the veins of the old and aristocratic families of Spain, translating Spanish sangre azul, claimed by certain families of Castile that held themselves uncontaminated by Moorish or Jewish admixture; the term probably is from the notion of the visible veins of people of fair complexion. In reference to English families by 1827. As a noun, "member of an old and aristocratic family," by 1877. See blue (adj.1) + blood (n.).
Related entries & more blueing (n.)"substance which makes (something) blue," 1660s, verbal noun from blue (v.).
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blues (n.2)"depression, low spirits," 1741, from blue (adj.1) in the sense "low-spirited" (c. 1400).
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