Advertisement
Advertisement
black-and-blue
[ blak-uhn-bloo ]
adjective
- discolored, as by bruising; exhibiting ecchymosis:
a black-and-blue mark on my knee.
black-and-blue
adjective
- (of the skin) discoloured, as from a bruise
- feeling pain or soreness, as from a beating
Word History and Origins
Origin of black-and-blue1
Idioms and Phrases
Badly bruised, as in That fall down the stairs left me black and blue all over . Even though multicolored bruises rarely include the color black, this term has been so used since about 1300.Example Sentences
The west, half-way to the zenith, was green—the black-and-blue green of bruised flesh.
There was a long scratch on one calf and numerous black-and-blue spots around both knees.
These would explode, and I was twice hit by the bullets, which left a black-and-blue mark.
Always it landed on some tender portion of my anatomy, so that my average, written in black-and-blue spots, remained an even 1000.
Don't know exactly what it was, but I warrant I'll have a nice black-and-blue mark to show for it.
Advertisement
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse