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- DictionaryDo something until one is blue in the face
- ▪ put all one's efforts into doing something to no avail
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Exhausted from anger, strain, or other great effort. For example, You can argue until you're blue in the face, but I refuse to go. This expression alludes to the bluish skin color resulting from lack of oxygen, which presumably might result from talking until one was breathless. See also under talk one's arm off.
Meaning. Idiom: (until someone is) blue in the face: to talk or argue for a very long time to try to persuade someone but it's useless because they won't do or agree with what you want.
If you say or shout something until you are blue in the face, you are wasting your efforts because you will get no results: You can tell her to clean her room until you are blue in the face, but she won't do it. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Useless and futile. adrift.
Exhausted from anger, strain, or other great effort. For example, You can argue until you're blue in the face, but I refuse to go . This expression alludes to the bluish skin color resulting from lack of oxygen, which presumably might result from talking until one was breathless. See also under talk one's arm off .
In terms of pointlessness or futility, the idiom conveys the idea that something is so futile or useless that it is as if one's face has turned blue from the sheer absurdity of it. This can also be used to express a sense of exasperation or annoyance with a task or situation.
BLUE IN THE FACE definition: exhausted and speechless , as from excessive anger , physical strain , etc. | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples.
The literal significance of being blue in the face is lack of oxygen, and indeed, this expression sometimes indicates that one has talked until one is breathless. But it also has been extended to other kinds of effort, as in “I tried to open that sardine can until I was blue in the face.”
