bluing

or blue·ing

[ bloo-ing ]

noun

, Chemistry.

1. a substance, as indigo, used to whiten clothes or give them a bluish tinge.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bluing¹

First recorded in 1660–70; blue + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

The colour actually comes from a process that starts with boiling water and grinding laundry bluing cubes, which are usually used to wash white clothes.

From BBC

Although Castle made works with color, utilizing a variety of materials that include laundry bluing, watercolor, crayon and even colored ink leached from magazine pages, these are black soot-and-spit.

From Los Angeles Times

Some on Reddit fixed this by sanding theirs down to take the shine off of the finish, and another recommended using an acrylic topcoat and another chemical bluing.

From The Verge

When a congressional seat opened up in a bluing stretch of Phoenix’s eastern suburbs, Sinema ran and won.

From Seattle Times

Increasingly, he said it looks like a policeman: his dark work slacks, the bluing on his revolver, the way the intruder held the silver flashlight over his shoulder.

From Los Angeles Times