Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A man who first marries and then murders one wife after another.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun 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.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (fairytale) a monstrous villain who marries seven women; he kills the first six for disobedience

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Blue Beard, translation of French Barbe Bleue, a character in a story by Charles Perrault (1628–1703).]

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Examples

  • New York Whether he is remembered as a fearsome bluebeard who went through six wives, a political tyrant who kept his executioner busy, the creator of the Anglican Church and despoiler of monasteries, or one of the most gifted and powerful monarchs of the early Renaissance, King Henry VIII of England (1491-1547) is among history's most renowned figures.

    The Real Henry VIII 2009

  • Regarding Fables I also heard once he couldnt use peter pan he changed his captain hook character to bluebeard.

    Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #142 | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources 2008

  • The old bluebeard Henry, who spent his whole time in murdering his wives, was a nursery toy.

    The Life of Froude Paul, Herbert 1905

  • The old bluebeard Henry, who spent his whole time in murdering his wives, was a nursery toy.

    The Life of Froude 1894

  • Not the men who won't let you; —such a bluebeard of a man as your guardian, for instance.

    The Gold of Chickaree Susan Warner 1852

  • Color for hot dry spots: yarrow; Shasta daisy; threadleaf coreopsis; dianthus; coneflowers; blanketflower; daylily; silver grass; switchgrass; fountain grass; beardtongue; salvia; Russian sage; sedum; rugosa rose; lilac; spirea; purple ninebark; sumac; barberry; bluebeard, or caryopteris; smokebush; hawthorn; ginkgo; and honey locust.

    HeraldTimesOnline.com 2010

  • And when I say elders, I am not talking about those people just because he's got a long beard - every bluebeard does not make an Afghan elder.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • I have what I thought was a bluebeard bush, but it gets much bigger than the 3 ft mound they claimed.

    unknown title 2009

  • English phrases include to blue ` to squander, 'hence to blow, a bluebeard ` a man who marries in order to kill his wife,' taken from Charles Perrault's

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VI No 1 1979

  • Here’s a quick list of shrubs that blooom on new wood, so they should be pruned hard in the spring (meaning, you can cut down the shrub, leaving only 6-8″ of wood). o Callicarpa beautyberry o Buddliea butterfly bush o Caryopteris bluebeard o Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ o Hibiscus moscheutos hardy hibiscus

    Some shrubs need hard pruning in the spring « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog 2009

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