See blues and twos on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Originally 1960s police slang, from the blue colour of the lights and the two-tone sound of the siren. Publicised by Blues and Twos, a documentary series broadcast on ITV from 1993.",
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{
"ref": "2006, Peter James, Looking Good Dead, New York: Pan, →ISBN, page 142:",
"text": "Five minutes later, Bella, efficient as ever, radioed him back with an address near Hove station, about ten minutes drive away, going soberly, or ninety seconds with the blues and twos on.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2019 February 20, MacDara Conroy, “No More Blue Lights & Sirens For Irish Coast Guard Road Vehicles Under New Directive”, in Afloat.ie:",
"text": "The new directive says risks associated with the use of so-called ‘blues and twos’ by coastguard vehicles “need to be mitigated”.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2023 December 2, Hayden Vernon, “Thérèse Coffey says she ‘came close to dying’ from brain abscess”, in The Guardian, London:",
"text": "“The hospital rang home and said somebody needs to get here quickly,” Coffey told the paper. “So my mum, who must have been in her eighties by then, came up and we did the flashing blues and twos down to King’s [College hospital] and I was operated on that night.”",
"type": "quote"
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],
"glosses": [
"The flashing lights and loud siren of an emergency vehicle."
],
"id": "en-blues_and_twos-en-noun-k36tbj9N",
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"raw_glosses": [
"(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) The flashing lights and loud siren of an emergency vehicle."
],
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],
"word": "blues and twos"
}
{
"etymology_text": "Originally 1960s police slang, from the blue colour of the lights and the two-tone sound of the siren. Publicised by Blues and Twos, a documentary series broadcast on ITV from 1993.",
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"lang": "English",
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"pos": "adv",
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"ref": "1990, Graham Ison, A Damned Serious Business, Ulverscroft Large Print, →ISBN, pages 351-352:",
"text": "He glanced at his watch. “Blues and twos,” he said. “I want to get there before the train.” [...] They pulled out of the forecourt at the rear of the police office and drove straight across into Vauxhall Bridge Road, ignoring the one-way circuit, their siren and blue light carving a priority passage through the afternoon traffic.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Val McDermid, The Distant Echo, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 304:",
"text": "If Mondo was alive, he'd be long gone, the ambulance hurtling blues and twos to the nearest hospital.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"[of an emergency vehicle] with the blues and twos switched on"
],
"id": "en-blues_and_twos-en-adv-vdtz~DVU",
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"(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) [of an emergency vehicle] with the blues and twos switched on"
],
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"etymology_text": "Originally 1960s police slang, from the blue colour of the lights and the two-tone sound of the siren. Publicised by Blues and Twos, a documentary series broadcast on ITV from 1993.",
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{
"ref": "2006, Peter James, Looking Good Dead, New York: Pan, →ISBN, page 142:",
"text": "Five minutes later, Bella, efficient as ever, radioed him back with an address near Hove station, about ten minutes drive away, going soberly, or ninety seconds with the blues and twos on.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2019 February 20, MacDara Conroy, “No More Blue Lights & Sirens For Irish Coast Guard Road Vehicles Under New Directive”, in Afloat.ie:",
"text": "The new directive says risks associated with the use of so-called ‘blues and twos’ by coastguard vehicles “need to be mitigated”.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2023 December 2, Hayden Vernon, “Thérèse Coffey says she ‘came close to dying’ from brain abscess”, in The Guardian, London:",
"text": "“The hospital rang home and said somebody needs to get here quickly,” Coffey told the paper. “So my mum, who must have been in her eighties by then, came up and we did the flashing blues and twos down to King’s [College hospital] and I was operated on that night.”",
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],
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"The flashing lights and loud siren of an emergency vehicle."
],
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],
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"(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) The flashing lights and loud siren of an emergency vehicle."
],
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"UK",
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"plural",
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"word": "blues and twos"
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"etymology_text": "Originally 1960s police slang, from the blue colour of the lights and the two-tone sound of the siren. Publicised by Blues and Twos, a documentary series broadcast on ITV from 1993.",
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"pos": "adv",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1990, Graham Ison, A Damned Serious Business, Ulverscroft Large Print, →ISBN, pages 351-352:",
"text": "He glanced at his watch. “Blues and twos,” he said. “I want to get there before the train.” [...] They pulled out of the forecourt at the rear of the police office and drove straight across into Vauxhall Bridge Road, ignoring the one-way circuit, their siren and blue light carving a priority passage through the afternoon traffic.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Val McDermid, The Distant Echo, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 304:",
"text": "If Mondo was alive, he'd be long gone, the ambulance hurtling blues and twos to the nearest hospital.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"[of an emergency vehicle] with the blues and twos switched on"
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) [of an emergency vehicle] with the blues and twos switched on"
],
"tags": [
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}
],
"word": "blues and twos"
}
Download raw JSONL data for blues and twos meaning in All languages combined (3.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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