blind

Alternative forms

• (archaic) blinde

Etymology

From Old English blind, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz. Akin to German blind, Old High German blint.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blaɪnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪnd

Adjective

blind (comparative blinder, superlative blindest)

1. (not comparable, of a person or animal) Unable to see, due to physiological or neurological factors.
   • Shakespeare

     He that is strucken blind cannot forget / The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.

   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island,

     He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a stick, and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose...

2. (not comparable, of an eye) Unable to be used to see, due to physiological or neurological factors.
3. (comparable) Failing to see, acknowledge, perceive.

   The lovers were blind to each other's faults.

   Authors are blind to their own defects.

4. (not comparable) Of a place, having little or no visibility.

   a blind path; a blind ditch; a blind corner

   • Milton

     the blind mazes of this tangled wood

5. (not comparable) Closed at one end; having a dead end

   a blind gut

   • 1914, James Joyce, Araby:

     North Richmond street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free.

6. (not comparable) Having no openings for light or passage.

   a blind wall, a blind alley

7. smallest or slightest in phrases such as

   I shouted, but he didn't take a blind bit of notice.

   We pulled and pulled, but it didn't make a blind bit of difference.

8. (not comparable) without any prior knowledge.

   He took a blind guess at which fork in the road would take him to the airport.

9. (not comparable) unconditional; without regard to evidence, logic, reality, accidental mistakes, extenuating circumstances, etc.

   blind deference

   blind justice

   blind punishment

   • Jay

     This plan is recommended neither to blind approbation nor to blind reprobation.

10. Unintelligible or illegible.

    a blind passage in a book; blind writing

11. (horticulture) Abortive; failing to produce flowers or fruit.

    blind buds; blind flowers

Noun

blind (plural blinds)

1. A covering for a window to keep out light. The covering may be made of cloth or of narrow slats that can block light or allow it to pass.
   • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 12, in Crime out of Mind‎:

     Light filtered in through the blinds of the french windows. It made tremulous stripes along the scrubbed pine floor.

2. A destination sign mounted on a public transport vehicle displaying the route destination, number, name and/or via points, etc.
3. Any device intended to conceal or hide.

   a duck blind

4. Something to mislead the eye or the understanding, or to conceal some covert deed or design; a subterfuge.
5. (military) A blindage.
6. A halting place.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

7. (baseball, slang, 1800s) No score.
8. (poker) A forced bet: the small blind or the big blind.

   The blinds are $10/$20 and the ante is $1.

9. (poker) A player who is forced to pay such a bet.

   The blinds immediately folded when I reraised.

10. (as a plural) Those who are blind, taken as a group.

    Braille is a writing system for the blind.

Verb

blind (third-person singular simple present blinds, present participle blinding, simple past and past participle blinded)

1. (transitive) To make temporarily or permanently blind.

   The light was so bright that for a moment he was blinded.

   Don't wave that pencil in my face - do you want to blind me?

   • South

     A blind guide is certainly a great mischief; but a guide that blinds those whom he should lead is […] a much greater.

2. (slang, obsolete) To curse.
   • 1890, Rudyard Kipling, The Young British Soldier

     If you're cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind,

     Don't grouse like a woman, nor crack on, nor blind;

     Be handy and civil, and then you will find

     That it's beer for the young British soldier.

3. To darken; to obscure to the eye or understanding; to conceal.
   • Dryden

     Such darkness blinds the sky.

   • Stillingfleet

     The state of the controversy between us he endeavored, with all his art, to blind and confound.

4. To cover with a thin coating of sand and fine gravel, for example a road newly paved, in order that the joints between the stones may be filled.

Adverb

blind (comparative more blind, superlative most blind)

1. Without seeing; unseeingly.
2. (poker, three card brag) Without looking at the cards dealt.

Etymology

From Old Norse blindr, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz.

Adjective

blind

1. blind

References

• “blind” in Den Danske Ordbog

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪnt

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch blint, from Old Dutch *blind, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz.

Etymology 2

From blinden.

Etymology

From Old High German blint, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɪnt/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

blind (comparative blinder, superlative am blindesten)

1. blind
2. (of a mirror or windowpane) cloudy
   • 1918, Elisabeth von Heyking, Die Orgelpfeifen, in: Zwei Erzählungen, Phillipp Reclam jun. Verlag, page 9:

     So dunkel und schauerlich die Gruft aussah, wenn man durch die blinden, bestaubten Scheibchen der kleinen Fenster hineinblickte, so hell und freundlich war oben die Kirche.

     Just as dark and eerie the crypt looked like, if one looked in it through the cloudy, dusted little panes of the small windows, as bright and friendly was the church above.

See also

• blenden

Further reading

• blind in Duden online

Etymology

Cognate to Dutch blind, German blind.

Adjective

blind (comparative blinner, superlative blinnst)

1. blind

Etymology

From Old Norse blindr, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz.

Adjective

blind (neuter singular blindt, definite singular and plural blinde)

1. blind

References

• “blind” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Old Norse blindr, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz. Akin to English blind.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɪnː/, /blɪnd/

Adjective

blind (masculine and feminine blind, neuter blindt, definite singular and plural blinde, comparative blindare, indefinite superlative blindast, definite superlative blindaste)

1. blind

Verb

blind

1. imperative of blinda

References

• “blind” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *blindaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blind/

Adjective

blind

1. blind

   God is dēad and man is blind.

   God is dead and man is blind.

2. (substantive) a blind person

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *blindaz.

Adjective

blind

1. blind

Etymology

From Old Swedish blinder, from Old Norse blindr, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

blind

1. blind; unable or failing to see