blew

See also: Blew

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: bl(y)o͞o, IPA^(key): /bl(j)uː/
• (Wales) IPA^(key): /blɪu̯/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophone: blue

Etymology 1

From Middle English blew, from Old English blēow, from Proto-West Germanic *blē.

Verb

blew

1. simple past of blow
2. (now colloquial) past participle of blow

Etymology 2

Noun

blew (countable and uncountable, plural blews)

1. Obsolete form of blue.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 139:

     Her younger Siſter, that Speranza hight, / VVas clad in blew, that her beſeemed well; […]

Adjective

blew (comparative more blew, superlative most blew)

1. Obsolete form of blue.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 318:

     Straunge was her tyre, and all her garment blew, / Cloſe rownd about her tuckt with many a plight: […]

Cornish

Etymology

Cognate with Breton blev and Welsh blew. Of uncertain ultimate origin and lacking Celtic cognates outside of Brythonic. Perhaps related to Ancient Greek φλόος (phlóos, “rind, bark”). Or, related to Lithuanian plùskos (“hair”) and Proto-West Germanic *fleus (“fleece”), from Proto-Indo-European *plews- (“to pull out, pluck”).

Noun

blew (collective, singulative blewen f)

1. hair

   Synonym: gols

Derived terms

• blew lagas (“eyelashes”)
• blewek (“hairy, long-haired”)
• folsa blew (“nit-pick, quibble”, verb)
• liw blew lagas (“mascara”)
• melyn an blew (“blonde”)
• minvlew (“moustache”)

Mutation

Mutation of blew

unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed	mixed after 'th
blew	vlew	unchanged	plew	flew	vlew

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• bleu, blewe, blue, blw, blwe, blyu

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman bleu, blew; from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz. See also blo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bliu̯/

Adjective

blew

1. blue, azure
2. blue-violet
3. blue-grey; the colour of bruises
4. blue-black

Derived terms

• blewman

Descendants

• English: blue
• Scots: blew, blue
• Yola: blue

References

• “bleu, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 29 March 2018.

Noun

blew

1. blue
2. blue textiles
3. (rare) blue pigment

Descendants

• English: blue
• Scots: blew, blue

References

• “bleu, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 29 March 2018.

See also

Colors in Middle English · coloures, hewes (layout · text)

whit	grey, hor	blak
red; cremesyn, gernet	citrine, aumbre; broun, tawne	yelow, dorry, gul; canevas
grasgrene	grene
plunket; ewage	asure, livid	blew, blo, pers
violet; inde	rose, murrey; purpel, purpur	claret

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh blew; cognate with Breton blev and Cornish blew. Of uncertain ultimate origin and lacking Celtic cognates outside of Brythonic. Perhaps related to Ancient Greek φλόος (phlóos, “rind, bark”). Or, related to Lithuanian plùskos (“hair”) and Proto-West Germanic *fleus (“fleece”), from Proto-Indo-European *plews- (“to pull out, pluck”).

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈbleːu̯/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈblɛu̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛu̯

Noun

blew (plural, singular blewyn m)

1. hair, hairs

   Synonym: gwallt

2. bristles

   Synonym: gwrych

3. fur

   Synonyms: ffwr, manflew

4. blades of grass

   Synonyms: blew cae, blew glas

5. fishbones

Derived terms

• achub y blewyn a cholli’r bwrn (“to be penny-wise and pound-foolish, to falsely economise”)
• amranflew (“eyelash”)
• at y blewyn (“to a hair's breadth, precisely”)
• blew amrant (“eyelashes”)
• blew cae, blew glas (“blades of grass”)
• blew llygaid (“eyelashes”)
• blew Medi (“gossamer”)
• blew pen (“head hair”)
• blew pigog (“stingers of a nettle”)
• blewiach (“fine hairs, down”)
• blewog (“furry”)
• blew'r arffed (“pubic hair”)
• blew'r gên (“beard”)
• blewyn da ar (“in good condition”)
• blewynnog (“hairy”)
• brethyn blew (“haircloth”)
• bwrw blew (“to moult, to shed hair”)
• di-flewyn-ar-dafod (“straight-talking”)
• dim blewyn ar ei dafod (“straight-talking”)
• edau flew (“mohair”)
• ffolicl blewyn (“hair follicle”)
• goflew (“fine hair, down”)
• gweld blew ei lygaid (“to mistakenly believe one sees things”)
• heb blewyn ar ei dafod (“straight-talking, outspoken”)
• hel blew ceimion (“to wander around”)
• hollti blew (“to split hairs”)
• hollti'r blewyn yn bedwar ar ddeg (“to exaggerate, to lie”)
• i'r blewyn (“to a hair's breadth, precisely”)
• lled blewyn (“hair's breadth”)
• manflew (“fur, down”)
• sbort pen blewyn (“rushlight”)
• trwch blewyn (“hair's breadth”)
• tynnu blewyn cwta (“to draw lots”)
• tynnu blewyn o drwyn (“to provoke, to goad”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of blew

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
blew	flew	mlew	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.