English Explanatory Dictionary

black and blue

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of a person, having obvious bruises of the skin, typically from falling or being hit or punched.
verb
  1. To bruise, to strike (a person in such a way as to discolour the skin without breaking it).

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-black and blue.wav

Word forms

black and blue black-and-blue black and blues black and blueing black and bluing black and blued

Etymology

From Middle English blak and blo, blac and bla (“very dark, bruised”), equivalent to black + and + blow (dialectal term for blue). By surface analysis, black + and + blue.

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