Definitions

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

  • adjective Loyal or faithful; staunch.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See true blue, under blue.
  • noun A person faithful to the principles or characteristics of a body or class.
  • noun Especially— A Scotch Covenanter.
  • noun A British sailor; a man-of-war's-man.

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

  • adjective Of inflexible honesty and fidelity; -- a term derived from the true, or Coventry, blue, formerly celebrated for its unchanging color. See True blue, under blue.
  • noun A person of inflexible integrity or fidelity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Alternative spelling of true blue.

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

  • adjective marked by unswerving loyalty

Etymologies

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

[From the adoption of the color blue by 17th-century Scottish Presbyterians in opposition to the Royalists' red.]

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Examples

  • The Conservative salvo at a 72-year-old widow of a man she called a "true-blue" Conservative quickly spread through blogs, newspapers and television.

    NYT > Home Page By SERGE SCHMEMANN 2011

  • After a wild romp, Daisy trots home to curl up with her new, true-blue best friend.

    A Prize Winner With a Poignant Sense of Loss Meghan Cox Gurdon 2012

  • Gyllenhaal is also appealing as the love interest, but it's the mellowing Duvall who gives the film extra ballast and seasoning playing Wayne, the true-blue friend who helps Bad get clean and sober.

    John Farr: Actor's Actor: A Birthday Salute to Robert Duvall John Farr 2012

  • If you're a true-blue monarchist, you have to feel for Albania.

    It's Not Good to Be the King Thomas Vinciguerra 2011

  • But she teases that Teresa's motivations run deeper than being just a true-blue hero.

    The Chicago Code's Jennifer Beals: Superwoman Hasn't Come to Chicago 2011

  • "He's a wooz, a true-blue, dyed-in-the-wool wooz," Doctor Jackson chanted, with the medico's delight in a novelty.

    Chapter 11 2010

  • My grandfather, a true-blue Tory of the old school, would have been disgusted.

    Archive 2009-03-01 2009

  • If one of the three remaining true-blue social conservatives emerges with the preponderance of that vote in South Carolina, the pressure on the other two will become intense to pull out.''

    Hope Dims for an Evangelical Pick Neil King Jr. 2012

  • As of this writing, Erik Millett, the principal of Belleisle Elementary School, is still away from his job, having been pitilessly hounded, vilified and threatened by what amounts to a national lynch-mob of true-blue patrioteers.

    Archive 2009-02-01 2009

  • "I will die like a true-blue rebel," he told his comrades.

    The Union Martyr Mark Lewis 2011

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