Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A supposititious code of severe laws for the regulation of religious and personal conduct in the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven; hence, any rigid Sunday laws or religious regulations.

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

  • noun Plural form of blue law.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Such prohibitions became known as “blue laws,” although no one now remembers why; perhaps because of the color of the paper on which they were printed or bound, or because of the pejorative meaning of the color in the colonial era, as in bluestockings or later variations like bluenoses—those who were prudish or proper.

    The Quiet Revolution of the Sabbath Condé Nast 2023

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