blue blood

[ bloo bluhd bloo bluhd ]

noun

1. an aristocrat, noble, or member of a socially prominent family.
2. aristocratic, noble, or socially prominent lineage or relatives:

   They boasted a lineage of pure blue blood.

blue blood

noun

1. royal or aristocratic descent

Derived Forms

• ˈblue-ˈblooded, adjective

Other Words From

• blue-blooded adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of blue blood¹

1825–35; translation of Spanish sangre azul. See sanguine, azure

Word History and Origins

Origin of blue blood¹

C19: translation of Spanish sangre azul

Example Sentences

The battle of blue bloods capped off Thursday night’s four play-in games to the main bracket.

From Washington Post

The blue bloods you would expect to see at the top of the men’s bracket — Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas — have faltered this year in ways that can only partly be blamed on the pandemic.

From FiveThirtyEight

Each is a blue blood in both the figurative and the chromatic.

From FiveThirtyEight

Michigan State is another college basketball blue blood in disarray this seasonBest of all, there isn’t an obvious hole in the Scarlet Knights’ postseason profile.

From Washington Post

Both Gonzaga and Baylor are interesting cases this year, edging out the traditional blue bloods like Kentucky and Duke as well as the champions of the last couple of years, Villanova and Virginia.

From FiveThirtyEight

From the start, we see him as he is: a despot and a swindler, a Dallas blue-blood with FBI ties, fleeing a violent past.

From The Daily Beast

In Cold Mountain I did the blue-blood accent, and this one is totally different.

From The Daily Beast

He may be a World War II hero and New England Yankee blue blood, but he has the tear ducts of a Sicilian grandmother.

From The Daily Beast

No other women with less blue blood could even attempt to get away with what she seems to in fact be getting away with.

From The Daily Beast

Blood will run in the streets of the city when I get up, the brown blood, the black blood, the blue blood.

From Project Gutenberg

In every drop of the blue blood of St. Louis there is a bubble of sporting blood.

From Project Gutenberg

With Mrs. Garnett, one must have either plenty of very blue blood or more than plenty of very yellow gold.

From Project Gutenberg

Oh what a pity one cannot sell one's quality for daily bread, or trade off one's blue blood for black coffee.

From Project Gutenberg

His blue blood carries him through life with glory and straight to heaven when he dies.

From Project Gutenberg