What is the origin of the phrase "out-of-the-blue?"?

Answer 1

The first known use of the exact phrase comes from Thomas Carlyle, the Scottish author, in "The French Revolution", published in 1837: ("Arrestment, sudden really as a bolt out of the Blue, has hit strange victims."). The meaning of "out of the blue" as "suddenly and unexpectedly" derives from Carlyle's use--nothing could be more unexpected than a lightning bolt coming out of the blue, i.e. a clear, blue sky.

The OED traces the phrase back even earlier, finding its earliest beginnings in Henry More's "Song of Soul", published in 1647.

Answer 2

complete surprise, like a bolt of lightning from a blue sky.

Origin

This has the feel of a Shakespearian or Biblical phrase, but it isn't as old as it sounds. There are several forms of it: 'out of the blue', 'a bolt out of the blue', etc. The earliest citation is Thomas Carlyle, in 'The French Revolution', 1837:

know the meaning of the phrase as something unexpected or out of nowhere but from where does this term originate? I think it may be from the blue of the skies but I'm not sure!

I can't find "out of the blue" in my sources, but Webster's unabridged, 1934, does identify blue with the sky (or celestial space or the far distance) in the similar phrase "a bolt from the blue."



"Arrestment, sudden really as a bolt out of the Blue, has hit strange victims."
came like a bolt from the blue

Meaning

A complete and sudden surprise.

Origin

The allusion here is to the surprise like a lightening bolt from a clear sky. Thomas Carlyle was the first author known to have used the term in print, in his The French Revolution, 1837:

"Arrestment, sudden really as a bolt out of the Blue, has hit strange victims."

The word blue (or blew) had been used before that to mean the sky. Henry More records that in his A Platonicall Song of the Soul, 1642:

"Ne any footsteps in the empty Blew."

Answer 3

I think that that phrase originated when captains of ships were taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of pirates in mid-sea.

As the sea and sky were blue,the pirates emerged seemingly from nowhere and hence the phrase 'Out of the blue'

Answer 4

Colors like green, purple, and blue tend to describe someone's emotion or mood of sadness. It also reflect water or something cold. For example: Picassos's "Blue Period". The art peices used very sad colors. So that line mostly likley originated fom this color theory.

Answer 5

I believe its a primitive view of things falling from the sky without any noticeable origin.

Answer 6

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Good luck.

Kevin, Liverpool, England.

Answer 7

...out of the blue sky...