Brewer's: Blue Ribbon

(A). A wale from a blow. A bruise turns the skin blue.

“ `Do you want a blue ribbon round those white sides of yours, you monkey?' answered Orestes; `because, if you do, the hippopotamus hide hangs ready outside.' ” —Wingsley: Hypatia, chap. iv.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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