blued

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of blue.

   The smith blued the new rifle before handing it to the customer.

   By the end of the day she had blued every load of laundry.

   Note

   One spelling covers every verb that blue can be, and not all of them are about color. A smith blued a barrel and a laundress blued the sheets. In Australian slang, two men who blued were fighting, and in dated slang someone who blued their wages had blown them. Because the color verb works both ways, the sky blued and the cold blued her lips are equally natural.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having undergone chemical passivation, which leaves a thin protective layer on the metal surface.

   The blued steel barrel resisted rust even after months in damp storage.

   He chose a blued finish over polished chrome for the revolver.

   Similarblackened

   Note

   A metalworker's adjective rather than a color word: a blued finish is what the steel-treating verb leaves behind, and it is prized because it holds off rust. It is not comparable, so a barrel is blued or it is not, never more blued. Its near synonym is blackened, a reminder that the finish need not look blue at all.

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