blues

• enPR: blo͞oz, IPA^(key): /bluːz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːz

blues

1. plural of blue

blues (countable and uncountable, plural blues)

1. (usually in the plural, informal) A feeling of sadness or depression.

   Synonyms: blueness; see also Thesaurus:sadness

   I've got the blues today.

   The blues have hit her hard, and she won't get out of bed.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     If we had been allowed to sit idle we should all have fallen in the blues […]

   1. (informal, in the singular or in the plural) One's particular life experience, particularly including the hardships one has faced.

      Your blues is just like mine.

      Your blues are just like mine.

   2. (informal, in the singular or in the plural) The negative emotional state produced by a particular action, occupation, experience, or idea.

      I've got the lonely man's blues.

      If you work here long enough, you'll have the butcher's blues just like me.

3. (music) A musical form, African-American in origin, generally featuring an eight-bar or twelve-bar blues structure and using the blues scale.

   Many great blues musicians came from the Mississippi Delta region.

   A large portion of modern popular music is influenced by the blues.

   2. (music, in the singular) A musical composition following blues forms.

      My next number is a blues in G.

5. A uniform made principally of a blue fabric, and especially a full dress uniform thus colored.

   Coordinate terms: camos, fatigues, greens, khakis

   They marched in their dress blues.

   • 2007, Jason Isbell, Dress Blues:

     You never planned on the bombs in the sand
     Or sleeping in your dress blues.

6. (drugs, slang) Any of various blue pills sold on the street, mimicking the appearance of prescription pain killer tablets.

blues

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of blue

• blues on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Buels, bulse, lubes

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈblus]

blues m (uncountable)

1. (music) blues (musical genre of African American origin)

• “blues”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• IPA^(key): /bluːs/, [b̥lʊəs]
• Rhymes: -ʊəs

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

blues c (singular definite bluesen, not used in plural form)

1. (music) blues (musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

From Old Danish blyghæs, from Old Norse blýgjask.

blues (past tense bluedes, past participle bluedes)

1. (deponent, archaic) to be or feel ashamed or embarrassed or shy

• blu
• blusel

• “blues” in Den Danske Ordbog

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbluːs/, [ˈbluːs̠]
• IPA^(key): /ˈblyːs/, [ˈblyːs̠]
• Rhymes: -uːs
• Syllabification^(key): blues
• Hyphenation^(key): blues

blues

1. (music) blues (musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

• “blues”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

• IPA^(key): /bluz/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uz
• Homophones: blouse, blousent, blouses

blues m (plural blues)

1. blues (depression)
2. (music) blues (musical genre of African American origin)
3. (music) blues (a blues composition)

• coup de blues

• “blues”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• bleus

Borrowed from English blues.

• IPA^(key): [ˈbluːz]
• Hyphenation: blues

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: blúz
• Rhymes: -uːz

blues (plural bluesok)

1. (music) blues (musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

• blueszene
• blueszenekar

• blues in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbluz/^[1]
• Rhymes: -uz
• Hyphenation: blùes

blues m (invariable)

1. (music) blues (musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

• blues in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• bluse

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

• IPA^(key): /ˈblus/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -us
• Syllabification: blues
• Homophone: bluz

blues m inan

1. (music) blues (musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

• blues in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• blues in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

blues m pl (plural only)

1. (music) blues (a musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

• blueseiro, bluseiro

• bluesman

• “blues”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “blues”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), São Paulo: 7Graus, 2009–2025
• “blues”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “blues”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “blues”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

blues n (plural bluesuri)

1. (music) blues (a musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

• IPA^(key): /ˈblus/ [ˈblus]
• Rhymes: -us

blues m pl (plural only) or blues m (uncountable)

1. (music) blues (a musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

• “blues”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

blues c

1. (music) blues (a musical genre of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

• blues in Svensk ordbok.