In literature, “steel blue” is frequently employed as a vivid descriptor that enhances both natural landscapes and human features. The hue may evoke the calm profundity of a sky or sea, as when a narrator details a “steel blue sky” or a sea that shifts into “steel blue” hues at twilight [1], [2], [3]. Equally, it often adorns characters’ eyes and attire to suggest determination or subtle melancholy—consider the description of a character with “steel blue eyes” that seem to pierce through his surroundings [4], [5], [6]. Moreover, the color graces the plumage of birds or the delicate facets of nature, imbuing scenes with a metallic, almost otherworldly shimmer, as seen in accounts of a barn swallow’s lustrous feathers or the reflective glint on a spore’s wall [7], [8], [9]. This recurring use of steel blue not only broadens the sensory impact of the narrative but also provides a cool, reflective counterpoint to warmer tones in the text.
- The sun smiled from a steel blue sky and danced in golden stripes on the bright, calm surface of the sea.
— from The Adventures of the U-202: An Actual Narrative by Spiegel, E. (Edgar), Freiherr von
- Outside their windows, the sun was glowing over the steel blue sea.
— from Phebe, Her Profession
A Sequel to Teddy: Her Book by Anna Chapin Ray
- And he lay with eyes half closed, staring at the steel blue overhead.
— from Over the Pass by Frederick Palmer
- Jack was nearly seventeen, with light hair and steel blue eyes.
— from Guilt of the Brass Thieves by Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt
- He had no courage to face the steel blue of her eye.
— from The Way of the Wind by Zoé Anderson Norris
- Whenever he was out of doors, they noticed, his steel blue eyes roved naturally to the distant peaks of Crazy Mountain.
— from Boy Scout Explorers at Headless Hollow by Don Palmer
- The Barn Swallow of the United States, much like that of Europe, is lustrous steel blue, pale chestnut below, tail deeply forked.
— from The Circle of Knowledge: A Classified, Simplified, Visualized Book of Answers
- It was of a most beautiful greenish colour, variegated with steel blue.
— from Life of a Scotch Naturalist: Thomas Edward, Associate of the Linnean Society.
Fourth Edition by Samuel Smiles
- Vegetative cells 7.5-9µ in diameter, zygospores 24-30µ × 30-42µ steel blue, otherwise like the type.
— from The Ohio Journal of Science, Vol. XVI, No. 1, November 1915 by Various