Englishblack and blue
Meaning: Discolored from a bruise; injured in a fight either physically or verbally.
Example: “After the rugby match, his legs were black and blue.”
Origin: Describes a bruise about as literally as an idiom can, and it's old: Middle English already had blak and blo — blo being a dialect word for a livid, dark blue-gray — on record from around 1300. Multicolored bruising rarely actually includes true black, but the phrase settled into this pairing early and never let go of it, using two colors to stand in for the full, ugly range a real bruise runs through as it heals. It broadened over time from describing literal injury to any experience — physical or emotional — that leaves someone feeling equally battered.
More English idioms
- boiling point The point at which one loses one's temper.
- born yesterday Naive.
- the bottom line The net result; the essential point or undeniable truth.
- bottom of the barrel The least able member of a group; the least desirable items from a collection.
- bottoms up! A call to drink; to empty one's glass.
- box someone in To trap someone, physically or in a situation, leaving no room to maneuver.
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