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Blue vitriol   /blu vˈɪtriəl/   Listen
noun
Vitriol  n.  (Chem.)
(a)
A sulphate of any one of certain metals, as copper, iron, zinc, cobalt. So called on account of the glassy appearance or luster.
(b)
Sulphuric acid; called also oil of vitriol. So called because first made by the distillation of green vitriol. See Sulphuric acid, under Sulphuric. (Colloq.)
Blue vitriol. See under Blue.
Green vitriol, ferrous sulphate; copperas. See under Green.
Oil of vitriol, sulphuric or vitriolic acid; popularly so called because it has the consistency of oil.
Red vitriol, a native sulphate of cobalt.
Vitriol of Mars, ferric sulphate, a white crystalline substance which dissolves in water, forming a red solution.
White vitriol, zinc sulphate, a white crystalline substance used in medicine and in dyeing. It is usually obtained by dissolving zinc in sulphuric acid, or by roasting and oxidizing certain zinc ores. Formerly called also vitriol of zinc.


adjective
Blue  adj.  (compar. bluer; superl. bluest)  
1.
Having the color of the clear sky, or a hue resembling it, whether lighter or darker; as, the deep, blue sea; as blue as a sapphire; blue violets. "The blue firmament."
2.
Pale, without redness or glare, said of a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths.
3.
Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue.
4.
Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. (Colloq.)
5.
Severe or over strict in morals; gloom; as, blue and sour religionists; suiting one who is over strict in morals; inculcating an impracticable, severe, or gloomy mortality; as, blue laws.
6.
Literary; applied to women; an abbreviation of bluestocking. (Colloq.) "The ladies were very blue and well informed."
Blue asbestus. See Crocidolite.
Blue black, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black.
Blue blood. See under Blood.
Blue buck (Zool.), a small South African antelope (Cephalophus pygmaeus); also applied to a larger species (AEgoceras leucophaeus); the blaubok.
Blue cod (Zool.), the buffalo cod.
Blue crab (Zool.), the common edible crab of the Atlantic coast of the United States (Callinectes hastatus).
Blue curls (Bot.), a common plant (Trichostema dichotomum), resembling pennyroyal, and hence called also bastard pennyroyal.
Blue devils, apparitions supposed to be seen by persons suffering with delirium tremens; hence, very low spirits. "Can Gumbo shut the hall door upon blue devils, or lay them all in a red sea of claret?"
Blue gage. See under Gage, a plum.
Blue gum, an Australian myrtaceous tree (Eucalyptus globulus), of the loftiest proportions, now cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions for its timber, and as a protection against malaria. The essential oil is beginning to be used in medicine. The timber is very useful. See Eucalyptus.
Blue jack, Blue stone, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper.
Blue jacket, a man-of war's man; a sailor wearing a naval uniform.
Blue jaundice. See under Jaundice.
Blue laws, a name first used in the eighteenth century to describe certain supposititious laws of extreme rigor reported to have been enacted in New Haven; hence, any puritanical laws. (U. S.)
Blue light, a composition which burns with a brilliant blue flame; used in pyrotechnics and as a night signal at sea, and in military operations.
Blue mantle (Her.), one of the four pursuivants of the English college of arms; so called from the color of his official robes.
Blue mass, a preparation of mercury from which is formed the blue pill.
Blue mold or Blue mould, the blue fungus (Aspergillus glaucus) which grows on cheese.
Blue Monday,
(a)
a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent).
(b)
a Monday considered as depressing because it is a workday in contrast to the relaxation of the weekend.
Blue ointment (Med.), mercurial ointment.
Blue Peter (British Marine), a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to recall boats, etc. It is a corruption of blue repeater, one of the British signal flags.
Blue pill. (Med.)
(a)
A pill of prepared mercury, used as an aperient, etc.
(b)
Blue mass.
Blue ribbon.
(a)
The ribbon worn by members of the order of the Garter; hence, a member of that order.
(b)
Anything the attainment of which is an object of great ambition; a distinction; a prize. "These (scholarships) were the of the college."
(c)
The distinctive badge of certain temperance or total abstinence organizations, as of the Army.
Blue ruin, utter ruin; also, gin. (Eng. Slang)
Blue spar (Min.), azure spar; lazulite. See Lazulite.
Blue thrush (Zool.), a European and Asiatic thrush (Petrocossyphus cyaneas).
Blue verditer. See Verditer.
Blue vitriol (Chem.), sulphate of copper, a violet blue crystallized salt, used in electric batteries, calico printing, etc.
Blue water, the open ocean.
Big Blue, the International Business Machines corporation. (Wall Street slang.) PJC
To look blue, to look disheartened or dejected.
True blue, genuine and thorough; not modified, nor mixed; not spurious; specifically, of uncompromising Presbyterianism, blue being the color adopted by the Covenanters. "For his religion... 'T was Presbyterian, true blue."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Blue vitriol" Quotes from Famous Books



... about a gallon. On the bottom we set a star shaped arrangement made of sheets of copper with a long wire soldered to it so as to reach up out of the jar. Then we poured in a solution of copper sulphate until the jar was about half full. This solution was made by dissolving in water crystals of "blue vitriol" which we bought ...
— Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His Son • John Mills
... clearing the face of the mould of all extraneous matter by a stream of water from a force-pump, it is washed with a solution of iron filings and blue vitriol which forms a primary copper facing. It is then suspended by a copper-connecting strip in a bath containing a solution of sulphate of copper, water, and sulphuric acid. Through the instrumentality of this solution, and the action of a current ...
— The Building of a Book • Various
... the standard fungicide material, consists of a solution of 6 pounds of copper sulphate (blue vitriol) with 4 pounds of slaked lime in 50 gallons of water. It may be purchased in prepared form in the open market, and when properly made, has a brilliant sky-blue color. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture should be done in the fall, early spring, or early summer, but never during the period ...
— Studies of Trees • Jacob Joshua Levison
... white stone. He soon felt ill, and fortunately was able to vomit what he had swallowed. Furious, and accusing me of a criminal intention, he returned to my quarters to demand an explanation. I examined the substance taken from the banana, and found that it was blue vitriol and corrosive sublimate. The presence of such substances in a banana was far from natural. I took other bunches of my supply, and found in several bananas the same poisons, which had been skillfully introduced ...
— Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands • Charles Nordhoff
... a class of plant weeds known as fungi. There are three commonly well known and used fungicides, Bordeaux mixture, commercial lime sulphur, and the self-boiled lime-sulphur. The Bordeaux mixture is the best all-around fungicide known. It is a mixture of three pounds of copper sulphate (blue vitriol or bluestone) with three or more pounds of fresh burned stone lime in fifty gallons of water. The two compounds should be put together as fruit growers say "with water between," that is each should be diluted with the water separately before the two ...
— Apple Growing • M. C. Burritt


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