> as lemmas

1823 E. James Acct. Exped. Rocky Mts. I. 318 Towards the last of August the old bucks begin to change to a dark bluish colour... In this state they are said to be in the blue.

1868 Amer. Naturalist 2 468 The fawn is similar in color, with two rows of white spots, and scattering ones on each side, which it retains often long after the winter-coat is assumed. This is called the blue. It is rather an ashy-gray, or near a slate-color.]

1877 J. D. Caton Antelope & Deer of Amer. 126 The deer are always poor when in the red, and are only worth killing when in the blue.

1902 Country Life in Amer. Mar. 157/1 By September first he is ‘in the blue’ again. His winter coat is just the color of the sage-brush.

2010 C. Wilson Deer 37 Now they wear thick winter coats of tan or bluish gray. People often say winter deer are ‘in the blue’.

1921 H. Stewart N.Z. Division 114 It was with some consternation that General Braithwaite..found his troops in a position so much ‘in the blue’ as to invite disaster.

1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 28 An attack that broke down, or troops who got out of touch, would be said to be ‘in the blue’.

1943 A. F. Jackson Passage to Tobruk 104 Early in the month of September, 1941, the whole battalion moved ‘up the blue’ (a term used to indicate any portion of the sterile Western Desert).

1958 L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari v. 83 You ought to have letters from us to our people in the blue just in case of need.

1963 Times 26 Jan. 9/6 In the 20 years since the tide of battle finally receded, ‘up the blue’, as the Desert Rats called it, has been tidied of war debris.

1985 S. McAughtry McAughtry's War 89 The longer we were up the Blue, the more we grew to resemble the Senussi travelling people.