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| Colorful English! | ||||
| Word or Phrase: | Part of Speech: | Idiom or General?: | Usage? | Restricted? |
| black and blue | adjective | 1: general | wide | No |
| Meaning: | ||||
| 1) darkly marked by blood when the skin is bruised. | ||||
| Example(s): | ||||
1) Why are you so black and blue? I crashed into a tree when I went skiing last weekend. 2) She said her mother had threatened to beat her bottom black and blue if she had even been caught smoking marijuana. | ||||
| Note: 'To beat someone black and blue' is a slightly old-fashioned term for corporal punishment, usually on the buttocks. However, the term black and blue itself is widely used to indicate a bruise on any part of the body from any cause. | ||||