noun
blues
A mood or spell of sadness.
A visit from her oldest friend helps lift her weekend blues.
Etymology
Blue developed a figurative sense of sadness. The plural blues names a spell of those low spirits, gathering the unhappy feelings into a single mood or condition.
More examples
- He gets the blues when the long summer ends.
- Music helped her shake off the blues.
- The rainy afternoon brought on a case of the blues.
Forms
blues
Similar words
- sadness
- The ordinary general term without the informal plural expression.
- melancholy
- Often suggests a reflective or lingering sadness.