Dictionary

black and blue en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English blak and blo, blac and bla (“very dark, bruised”), equivalent to black + and + blow (dialectal term for blue). By surface analysis, black + and + blue.

Meanings

1. (colloquial, not-comparable) Of a person, having obvious bruises of the skin, typically from falling or being hit or punched.
   • The whole benighted, blooming crew, The Puddin'-thieves, the Usher too, Are being beaten black and blue With bottles on the pate. 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 167:
   • My arm is still black and blue from slipping on the ice yesterday.

Forms

Translations (11)

pt com nódoas negras (covered in bruises) · nl bont en blauw (covered in bruises) · cmn 鼻青臉腫的 /鼻青脸肿的 (covered in bruises) · fi mustelmilla (covered in bruises) · de grün und blau (covered in bruises) · cmn 青一塊紫一塊 /青一块紫一块 (covered in bruises) · pt pisado (covered in bruises) · pt roxo (covered in bruises) · sv gul och blå (covered in bruises) · tr mosmor (covered in bruises) · la līvidus (covered in bruises)

black and blue en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English blak and blo, blac and bla (“very dark, bruised”), equivalent to black + and + blow (dialectal term for blue). By surface analysis, black + and + blue.

Meanings

1. (colloquial, slang) To bruise, to strike (a person in such a way as to discolour the skin without breaking it).
   • Come on through I black and blue your whole crew Then I get Rudy with the Hong Kong Phoo' 1995, Ol' Dirty Bastard, “Protect Ya Neck II the Zoo”, in Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version:
   • ... he black-and-blued her eyes he cooked a big meal to make it up to her. He went out and stole a neighbor's hog or caught some rice birds ... This was a country of rice plantations, but Twig and Peggy lived upriver, where rice[…] 1991, John Vernon, Peter Doyle: A Novel, Random House (NY):

Forms