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View synonyms for black-and-blue

black-and-blue

[ blak-uhn-bloo ]

adjective

  1. discolored, as by bruising; exhibiting ecchymosis:

    a black-and-blue mark on my knee.



black-and-blue

adjective

  1. (of the skin) discoloured, as from a bruise
  2. feeling pain or soreness, as from a beating
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of black-and-blue1

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50
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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.
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Example Sentences

The singer re-emerged wearing a sparkly black-and-blue outfit complete with roller skates as he introduced will.i.am for their collaboration OMG - a song title which reflected the crowd's reaction.

From BBC

“You don’t have to be black-and-blue to be in a domestic violence situation,” she said.

“And that’s the reason that he’s gone/And left you black-and-blue.”

Back at T-Mobile Park on Monday afternoon, Moore lifted up his shirt to reveal the oversized black-and-blue welt under his left shoulder blade on Monday afternoon.

Green-winged Inca jays, with yellow bellies and black-and-blue faces, fluttered and squawked in nearby branches, and a dazzling array of hummingbirds purred and thumped, jostling for space at assorted feeders.

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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.

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