Definition of "blues" []

• A state of depression or melancholy. Often used with the. (noun-plural)
• A style of music that evolved from southern African-American secular songs and is usually distinguished by a strong 4/4 rhythm, flatted thirds and sevenths, a 12-bar structure, and lyrics in a three-line stanza in which the second line repeats the first: "The blues is an expression of anger against shame and humiliation” ( B.B. King). (noun-plural)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Well-bred persons, abhorring the pedantry of the blues, are usually _anti - blues_, or _ultra-antis_."
• "We may think sure it could be a blues no matter what, but our initial reaction will be to compare the so called blues to what we know as blues - IOW a rule."
• "Together, Native American and African music mixed and eventually formed what we know as the blues: The foundation for the modern music of today."