blue pill en · NOUN
Etymology
(rejection of the red pill): From a scene in the film The Matrix (1999), where the main character, who lives in a virtual world known as the Matrix, is given a choice between a red pill that will allow him to learn the truth about the Matrix and a blue pill that will return him to his simulated life.
Meanings
-
(historical) Synonym of blue mass (“pill of prepared mercury”).
"[…] I'm getting old and it doesn't agree with me. I know I'll be fearfully cranky by the time I'm sixty. But perhaps all I need is a course of blue pills."
1909, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 27, in Anne of Avonlea:He scarcely knew a single soul in the metropolis: and were it not for his doctor, and the society of his blue-pill, and his liver complaint, he must have died of loneliness.
1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in Vanity Fair:
- (slang) A pill of sildenafil (Viagra), used to treat erectile dysfunction.
- Rejection of the red pill philosophy.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| blue pills | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| bluepill | alternative | lexicographic | |
| blue-pill | alternative | lexicographic |