Blue Idioms MULTIPLE CHOICE

What do these idioms with the colour blue mean? Choose the correct definition.

1 to have blue blood

a) to feel sad or depressed.

b) to have an unusual skin colour.

c) to have noble birth or high social status.

2 to be a blue-collar worker

a) to work in office jobs.

b) to work in manual labour or industrial jobs.

c) to work in creative industries.

3 to say/shout something until you are blue in the face

a) to shout so loud that you become physically ill.

b) to waste your efforts saying something because you won't get any results.

c) to get so angry that you pass out.

4 to happen once in a blue moon

a) to happen all the time.

b) to happen only at night.

c) to happen very rarely or seldom.

5 blue-sky thinking/brainstorming/etc

a) to use your imagination to generate new ideas, which might not be practical.

b) to think with a pessimistic attitute.

c) to generate ideas that practical and easy to carry out.

6 to happen out of the blue

a) to happen very frequently.

b) to happen very quickly.

c) to happen unexpectedly or suddenly.

7 to have the blues

a) to feel sad or depressed.

b) to be physically ill.

c) to have unexpected success.

8 to be a blue-eyed girl/boy

a) to be good-looking or attractive.

b) to be favoured or well-liked by someone in authority.

c) to appear trustworthy.

9 to go/dive into the blue

a) to appear after having been out of sight for a long period of time.

b) to go swimming or diving in the ocean at night.

c) to disappear without a trace or to go into the unknown.

10 to scream/shout blue murder

a) to make an unreasonable claim.

b) to express extreme anger or outrage.

c) to complain loudly.

KEY: 1) c - 2) b - 3) b - 4) c - 5) a - 6) c - 7) a - 8) b - 9) c - 10) b