Meaning & Analysis
To emerge from a situation, contest, or endeavor unsuccessfully, disappointingly, or in a state of discomfiture. The term 'bluely' signifies a sad, dejected, or failed outcome.
Insights
Disappointing Outcomes
The proverb metaphorically describes any situation where expectations are deflated and the result is anticlimactic or embarrassing. It represents the feeling of shame or melancholy that accompanies a poor performance.
Public Discomfiture
It captures the experience of public failure, where one's efforts are seen to result in a loss of status or respect. The 'blue' state is one of social embarrassment and visible disappointment.
Wasted Effort
The phrase signifies a state of wasted effort, where an investment of time or energy yields a poor or negative return, leaving one in a state of dejection.
Symbolism of Color
The proverb taps into the long-standing Western association of the color blue with sadness and melancholy, a concept with roots in humoral theory. 'Bluely' directly links an external failure to an internal state of dejection.
Linguistic History
This archaic expression, primarily used in the 17th and 18th centuries, offers a window into the linguistic evolution of idioms for failure. It has been supplanted by modern phrases like 'to fall flat' or 'to come up short'.
Psychology of Reputation
The phrase emphasizes the social and public nature of failure. 'Coming off' implies an audience, suggesting that the disappointment is compounded by a loss of face or public standing.
Rhetorical Devices
Color Symbolism
The adverb 'bluely' uses the color blue as a symbol for sadness, failure, and disappointment, creating a powerful and evocative image of the outcome.
Idiomatic Expression
The phrase is a concise and memorable idiom whose meaning is not entirely transparent from its individual words, a common feature of proverbial expressions.
Archaism
The use of 'bluely' as an adverb for failure is now archaic, giving the proverb a distinct historical and linguistic character.
Transcription
Quotations
Yet . . [he] came off bluely in the end.
The English say, To come bluely off, or blank.
To come off blewly, and lamely in any business.
I should come off bluely now if I should not have enough.
To come bluely off.
He still came off but bluely, by reason of the Care and Vigilance of the Chitterlings.
We shall come off but bluely here.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.