Midnight blue is a dark shade of blue named for its resemblance to the identifiably blue color of a moonlit night sky on or near the night of a full moon. Midnight blue is the color of a vat full of Indigo dye; therefore, midnight blue may also be considered a dark shade of indigo. Midnight blue is identifiably blue to the eye in sun-light or full-spectrum light, but can appear black under certain more limited spectrums sometimes found in artificial lighting (especially early 20th century incandescent). As a consequence, it is often colloquially confused with black-blue, which is a black with a blue undertone, or deep navy, which is a blue so dark it is nearly black.
There are two major shades of midnight blue—the X11 color and the Crayola color. This color was originally called midnight. The first recorded use of midnight as a color name in English was in 1915.
Read more about Midnight Blue: Midnight Blue, Midnight Blue in Culture
Famous quotes containing the words midnight and/or blue:
“Formerly, when lying awake at midnight in those woods, I had listened to hear some words or syllables of their language, but it chanced that I listened in vain until I heard the cry of the loon. I have heard it occasionally on the ponds of my native town, but there its wildness is not enhanced by the surrounding scenery.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.”
—Li Po (701–762)