True blue

True blue has become a metaphor for loyal and steadfast without any connection to the colour blue per se. True blue dates in this sense of being loyal and steadfast from the late 17th century. In the Late Middle Ages, the city of Coventry in the English Midlands had a reputation for the high quality dyeing of cloth. The colours remained fast and did not run and, in those days, there was an expression ‘true as Coventry blue’ which is still used in Coventry to this day. The colours of Coventry City Football Club remain a distinctive blue. During the 17th century, the Scottish Covenanters as Presbyterians adopted the colour blue and the phrase ‘true blue Presbyterians’ was first recorded in 1663. By the end of the 17th century, true blue as an expression simply meant loyal and steadfast without any connection to the colour blue itself, although it cannot be denied that the colour blue did play a vital role in its origin. See also Blues.