he was blue in the face
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
He had made too great an effort; was breathless and exhausted either bodily or with suppressed anger or emotion.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “he was blue in the face” mean?
He had made too great an effort; was breathless and exhausted either bodily or with suppressed anger or emotion.
Is “he was blue in the face” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.