Emily Dickinson Lexicon

blossom (-s), n. [OE blóstm < L. flos.] (webplay: beauty, bloom, bud, flower, leaves, plant, rose).

1. Flower; bloom; floret that becomes fruit on a plant; [fig.] product; harvest; yield; (see Numbers 17:8).
2. Corpse; deceased person; dead body.
3. Thought; meditation; reflection; [fig.] poem; verse; lyric.
4. Aurora; sunrise; refulgence; glory; emerging light.

blossom, v. [see blossom, n.] (webplay: flower, plant, rose).

Bloom; grow; develop; flourish; swell; come into a fullness; (see Isaiah 35:2).

blot (-ted), v. [origin uncertain.]

1. Darken; stain; hide; obscure; cover up with ink.
2. Phrase. “Blot out”: erase; obliterate; destroy (see Isaiah 44:22).

blow (-s), n. [origin uncertain.] (webplay: air, breathe, broken, bubble, death, hand, strike, substance, wind).

1. Blast; burst of air; gust of wind.
2. Hit; smite; smack; touch violently.
3. Impact; collision; strike; shock; sudden violent force; [fig.] distress; sorrow; grief; woe; calamitous occurrence.

blow (-n, -s, blew), v. [OE bláwan > L. flā-re.] (webplay: air, breathe, clouds, contention, death, drive, extinguish, fatal, gain, glass, hand, lose, pass, push, report, rise, severe, single, strike, trumpet, war, wind).

1. Gust; rush; move fluidly; burst forth with a strong current of air; (see John 3:8).
2. Flow; stream; surge; breathe; enter within.
3. Break; rupture; rend; divide; separate; splinter; violently split into many pieces.
4. Play; produce by exhaling; rub to cause to sound; (see 2 Samuel 18:16).
5. Brush; send; move; set in motion by a current of air.
6. Phrase. “Blow away”: disappear; vanish; depart; withdraw; pass away into the air.
7. Phrase. “Blow out”: extinguish; quench; douse; cause to cease giving off light.

blow (-n, -s, blew), v. [OE blówan > L. flōrēre, to bloom; see also blow v¹.] (webplay: away, burnt, clouds, flower, hand, hard, lose, pass, rise, single, sound, wind).

Bloom; blossom; grow; swell; burst into flower; work toward perfection.

blue (-st), adj. [ME blew > OFr bleu.] (webplay: glass, light, sky).

1. Soothing; safe; comforting; familiar.
2. Constant; unchanging; consistent; unvarying; eternal.
3. Sad; low; gloomy; depressing; downcast; miserable.
4. Pale; thin; weak; tentative; hesitant; wavering.
5. Waterlogged; [fig.] choking; suffocating.
6. Heavenly; celestial; moonlit; related to the atmosphere.
7. Aqua; color of frozen water; [fig.] cold; chilly; frost-bitten; without circulation of blood; lifeless; spiritless; almost dead.
8. Deep; vast; extensive; ample; oceanic; marine; related to the sea.
9. Azure; celeste; cerulean; of the tint of the sky; of the hue of the sea; having one of the seven colors of the spectrum into which light divides.
10. Phrase. “Blue Bird”: [see bluebird, n.]

blue, n. [see blue, adj.] (webplay: sky).

1. Hue of the sea; one of the seven spectrum colors that light produces through a prism.
2. Color of Union Army uniform in the Civil War; [fig.] celeste; one of the sunset colors.
3. Sky; atmosphere; firmament; heavenly color.

Blue Beard (-'s), proper n. [as genitive modifier; see blue, adj. and beard, n.] (webplay: ears, heaven, old).

Bluebeard; main character in a Charles Perrault story who killed several wives and kept their bodies in a closet; man executed for killing six of his seven wives after having their portraits painted; [fig.] legend; fable; fairy tale.

bluebird (-'s, Blue Bird, Blue-Birds, Blue Birds), n. [see blue, adj. + bird, n.] (webplay: sky).

1. Motacilla; small perching bird; winged creature with azure feathers; U.S. species of flying creature with blue upper body and pale red throat.
2. Songbird; [fig.] poet; writer; singer; bard; troubadour.