blind

Without seeing; unseeingly.

Adjective

  1. Unable to see, or only partially able to see.
    • Even a blind hen sometimes finds a grain of corn.
    • Braille is a writing system for the blind.
    • his blind eye

    Synonyms: sightless

    Antonyms: seeing sighted

  2. Failing to recognize, acknowledge or perceive.
    • The lovers were blind to each other’s faults.
    • Authors are blind to their own defects.
    • God knows that I tried / Seeing the bright side / (I’m wide awake) / But I’m not blind anymore - 2012, Katy Perry, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Dr. Luke, Cirkut, “Wide Awake”, in Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection,...
  3. Having little or no visibility.
    • a blind path
    • a blind ditch
    • a blind corner
  4. Closed at one end; having a dead end; exitless.
    • a blind alley
    • a blind fistula
    • a blind gut
  5. Having no openings for light or passage; both dark and exitless.
    • a blind wall
    • a blind alley
  6. Able to be fixed without access to one end.
    • a blind rivet
  7. Smallest or slightest.
    • 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. Without any prior knowledge.
    • He took a blind guess at which fork in the road would take him to the airport.
    • I went into the meeting totally blind, so I really didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.
  9. Unconditional; without regard to evidence, logic, reality, accidental mistakes, extenuating circumstances, etc.
    • blind deference
    • blind justice
    • blind punishment
  10. Using blinded study design, wherein information is purposely limited to prevent bias.
    • a blind trial
  11. Unintelligible or illegible.
    • a blind passage in a book; blind writing
  12. not having a well-defined head.
    • There it was, right in the middle of my forehead - the biggest, blindest, reddest pimple I'd ever seen, just hanging there like a limpet mine. - 1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 28:

Origin

From Middle English blynd, from Old English blind, from Proto-West Germanic *blind, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz. Cognate with Danish, Dutch, German, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish blind, Faroese and Icelandic blindur.

Forms

blinder blindest blinde

Related

invisible print disabled

Derived

a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse are you blind beblind blind abscess blind alley blind as a bat blind as a beetle blind as an owl blind axle blind bag blind baking Blind Bight blind bit blind boil blind box blind carbon copy blind coal blind-copy blind curve blind date blind drunk blind ecash blind envelope blinders

Adverb

  1. Without seeing; unseeingly.
    • It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. - 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in...
  2. Absolutely, totally.
    • to swear blind
    • It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. - 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in...
  3. Without looking at the cards dealt.
  4. As a pastry case only, without any filling.
    • Blind bake your pie case for fifteen minutes, then add the filling. This will help avoid a “soggy bottom”.
    • If the shell is going to be baked without a filling, “baking the crust blind,” prick the bottom and sides of the crust to allow the steam to escape. Another variation: line the bottom of the crust with parchment paper...
    • PIE WEIGHTS: When you are baking a crust blind, which means when you are partially or fully baking it without filling (see blind-baking, page 474), you need something to keep the crust from puffing up: weights. - 2013,...

Forms

more blind most blind blinde

Noun

  1. A movable covering for a window to keep out light, made of cloth or of narrow slats that can block light or allow it to pass.
    • A blind bearing the monogram G.V.T. is pulled down over the waiting room window as if still in mourning for the passing of the railway. - 1941 June, “Notes and News: The Derelict Glyn Valley Tramway”, in Railway...
    • Light filtered in through the blinds of the french windows. It made tremulous stripes along the scrubbed pine floor. - 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 12, in Crime out of Mind:

    Hyponyms: roller blind Venetian blind

  2. A destination sign mounted on a public transport vehicle displaying the route destination, number, name and/or via points, etc.
  3. A place where people can hide in order to observe wildlife.
    • a duck blind
    • Field biologists use blinds, and so do hunters.
    • A gang of children […] stampede along a slatted path to a blind beside a watering hole: a wooden hut full of long benches with a slot they can peek through, invisible to the animals. - 2010, Jennifer Egan, A Visit from...
  4. Something to mislead the eye or the understanding, or to conceal some covert deed or design; a subterfuge, deception.
  5. A blindage.
  6. A hiding place.
    • So, when the watchful shepherd, from the blind, Wounds with a random shaft the careless hind - 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals,...
  7. The blindside.
  8. No score.
  9. A forced bet: the small blind or the big blind.
    • The blinds are $10 and $20, and the ante is $1.
  10. A player who is forced to pay such a bet.
    • The blinds immediately folded when I reraised.

Forms

blinds blinde

Synonyms

rollsign

Related

curtain jalousie

Derived

accordion blind big blind blinders blindless blind map chick-blind miniblind muscleblind small blind sunblind Venetian blind

Verb

  1. 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?
    • A blind guide is certainly a great mischief; but a guide that blinds those whom he should lead is […] a much greater. - May 9, 1686 (date of preaching), Robert South, The Fatal Imposture and Force of Words (sermon)
  2. To curse, swear, use foul language
    • 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. - 1890, Rudyard Kipling, The...
    • I could see the unfortunate man felt his position deeply, and I was surprised that he contented himself with a mere ‘Ouch !’ But I suppose these solid citizens have to learn to curb the tongue. Creates a bad impression,...
  3. To darken; to obscure to the eye or understanding; to conceal.
    • He ſought, but in the dark tempeſtuous Night He knew not whither to direct his Sight. So whirl the Seas, ſuch Darkneſs blinds the Sky, That the black Night receives a deeper Dye. - 1717, John Dryden, “Book XI. [The...
    • The state of the controversy between us he endeavored, with all his art, to blind and confound. - 1676, Edward Stillingfleet, A Defence of the Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome:
  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.

Forms

blinds blinding blinded blound blinde

Derived

blindability blindable blinded by nostalgia blinder blinding blindness blind with science eff and blind