BLUEBACK Blue"back`, n. (Zoöl.) (a) A trout (Salmo oquassa) inhabiting some of the lakes of Maine. (b) A salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) of the Columbia River and northward. (c) An American river herring (Clupea æstivalis), closely allied to the alewife.
BLUEBEARD
Blue"beard, n.
Defn: The hero of a mediæval French nursery legend, who, leaving home, enjoined his young wife not to open a certain room in his castle. She entered it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. — Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate. The Bluebeard chamber of his mind, into which no eye but his own must look. Carlyle.
BLUEBELL Blue"bell`, n. (Bot.) (a) A plant of the genus Campanula, especially the Campanula rotundifolia, which bears blue bell-shaped flowers; the harebell. (b) A plant of the genus Scilla (Scilla nutans).
BLUEBERRY
Blue"berry, n. Etym: [Cf. Blaeberry.] (Bot.)
Defn: The berry of several species of Vaccinium, and ericaceous genus, differing from the American huckleberries in containing numerous minute seeds instead of ten nutlets. The commonest species are V. Pennsylvanicum and V. vacillans. V. corymbosum is the tall blueberry.
BLUEBILL
Blue"bill`, n. (Zoöl.)
Defn: A duck of the genus Fuligula. Two American species (F. marila and F. affinis) are common. See Scaup duck.
BLUEBIRD
Blue"bird`, n. (Zoöl.)
Defn: A small song bird (Sialia sialis), very common in the United
States, and, in the north, one of the earliest to arrive in spring.
The male is blue, with the breast reddish. It is related to the
European robin. Pairy bluebird (Zoöl.), a brilliant Indian or East
Indian bird of the genus Irena, of several species.