blue tape
British archaic slang for gin — part of a cluster of indirect terms for spirits used in 18th and 19th century slang.
Definitions
British archaic slang for gin — part of a cluster of indirect terms for spirits used in 18th and 19th century slang. 'Blue' may reference the blue flame gin produces when burned, or its association with poverty and working-class drink culture. Now entirely obsolete; encountered only in historical slang dictionaries.
They kept a bottle of blue tape under the counter for trusted regulars.
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(UK, slang, obsolete) Gin.
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- blue ruin70%
(slang, now, _, archaic) Low-end gin, usually home-made.
- blue fire70%
An older British slang phrase for lurid, melodramatic, or sensationalist writing — the kind of overwrought romanticism that prioritizes shock and spectacle over substance. Think purple prose cranked to eleven, gothic emotion, and theatrical excess. The term draws on the theatrical use of blue-colored flames for dramatic effect in nineteenth-century stage productions, where 'blue fire' created an eerie, supernatural atmosphere. Figuratively, it came to mean anything exaggerated for dramatic impact.
- blue movie67%
A dated slang term for a pornographic film, common from the mid-20th century through the video era. The association of 'blue' with obscenity or risqué content is longstanding in English — 'blue' comedy, 'blue' material, a 'blue' joke all share the same sense. The term has been largely displaced by more explicit modern terminology but still appears in ironic, nostalgic, or period contexts.
- blue fire64%
(UK, slang, dated) Sensational romanticism.