▪ I. blind, a. (and adv.)
(blaɪnd)
Forms: 1– blind, (4 blynt, 4–6 blynd(e, 4–7 blinde, 8– Sc. blin').
[A com. Teut. adj.: OE. blind = OS. blind (MDu. blint(d), Du. blind), ON. blindr (Da., Sw. blind), OHG. blint, (MHG. blint(d), mod.G. blind), Goth. blinds:—OTeut. *blindo-z, of which the Aryan form would be *bhlendh-: cf. Lith. bléndza-s blind, blę́sti to become dark, Lettish blendu I do not see clearly, OSlav. blědŭ pale, dim, pointing perhaps to an earlier sense ‘become dim or dark’ (Franck).]
I. Literal.
1. a. Destitute of the sense of sight, whether by natural defect or by deprivation. In comparisons, as blind as a bat or † brickbat; also blind as a beetle, mole, stone (see the ns.); to turn a blind eye: see eye n.1 5 e.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark x. 46 Bartimeus sæt blind wið þone weᵹ wædla. c 1200 Ormin 1859 He wass æness wurrþenn blind. c 1365 Chaucer A.B.C. 105 O verrey light of eyen that ben blynde. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 3632 As bleynde as a betulle. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 60 Blinde men should iudge no colours. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xvi. 5 Blynd folke runne gadding hither and thither like mad Bedlems. 1588 J. Harvey Disc. Probl. 40 As blinde, as moules, or bats. 1618 Latham 2nd Bk. Falconry (1633) 50 After the old Prouerbe, Who so blinde, as he that will not see? 1639 J. Clarke Parœm. 52 As blind as a bat at noone. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. iv. (1721) 238 Hittee Missee, happy go lucky, as the blind Man kill'd the Crow. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 464 ¶5 Jupiter..left him to strole about the World in the blind Condition wherein Chremylus beheld him. 1840 in Amer. Speech (1965) XL. 127 For blind as a bat he was. 1850 Dickens Dav. Copp. xlii, The old Scholar..is as blind as a brickbat. 1859 Masson Milton I. 737 Galileo, frail and blind. 1925 W. Deeping Sorrell & Son xviii. §2, I was blind as a bat. Pushed into a job by my people. 1943 E. Caldwell Georgia Boy iii. 50 I've done gone and got as blind as a bat. I can't see nothing at all. |
b. Temporarily deprived of sight, as when dazzled with a bright light.
| 1483 Caxton Cato F ij, Lyke hym whyche is blynde of the rayes of the sonne. |
c. Used punningly of a needle: Eyeless.
| a 1800 Cowper Manual more anc. Art of Poetry, The smaller sort, which matrons use, Not quite so blind as they. |
d. absol. A blind person,
esp. as
pl. Those who are blind, as a section of the community.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 30 And þa sæton tweᵹen blinde wið þone weᵹ. a 1300 Cursor M. 13527 Wit þis blind þar can he mete. Ibid. 14370 Crepels gan, þe blind haf sight. 1611 Bible Matt. xv. 14 If the blinde lead the blinde, both shall fall into the ditch. Mod. The Royal Asylum for the Blind. |
e. (
attrib. of
prec.) Of, pertaining to, or for the use of the blind as a class: as
blind asylum.
| 1881 Durham Univ. Jrnl. 12 Nov., The question of blind education. 1882 Pall Mall G. 8 June 7/2 The requirements for the blind scholarships are similar. |
f. (See
quot.)
| 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 292/2 The side [of a flat-fish] which is turned towards the bottom..is generally colourless, and called ‘blind’, from the absence of an eye on this side. |
g. Short for
blind drunk (see 15).
| 1630 J. Taylor Water-Cormorant in Wks. iii. 5/1 For though he be as drunke as any Rat, He hath but catcht a Foxe, or Whipt the Cat. Or some say hee's bewitcht, or scratcht, or blinde, Which are the fittest tearmes that I can finde. 1845 A. M. Hall Whiteboy v. 49 They'll be all blind by the time they get home from G. F.'s wedding. 1903 ‘A. McNeill’ Egreg. Eng. 145 The artisan..improves the shining hours, by ‘getting blind’, to use his own elegant phrase. 1930 W. S. Maugham Gent. in Parlour xliii. 263 On the night he arrived in London he would get blind, he hadn't been drunk for twenty years. |
h. In Poker,
to go blind: to put up a blind (see
blind n. 8); hence
to go (a specified stake) blind. Hence applied to forms of Poker in which this is done; so
blind hand.
| 1872 [see i below]. 1882 Poker 88 For some reasons players never give the blind hand credit for a good or even an average hand. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 283/2 The age is sometimes allowed to go blind, i.e., to raise the ante before he sees his cards. 1885 [see straddle v. 7]. |
i. fig. to go it blind: to act without previous investigation of the circumstances; to plunge without regard to the risks involved. Also
to go blind (on ―).
orig. U.S.| 1840 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 14 Mar. 18 Don't think of ‘going it blind’, but according to Walker! 1846 Congress. Globe App. 120 All I ask of him is that he will not ‘go it blind’ upon Oregon. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. viii. 155 It gives a Party Platform, tu, jest level with the mind..Of..honest folks thet mean to go it blind. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 328 Poker, when played by betting before looking at one's hand, is called Blind Poker, and this has given rise to the very common phrase, to go it blind, used whenever an enterprise is undertaken without previous enquiry. 1875 Gen. Sherman Mem. I. 342, I know that in Washington I am incomprehensible, because at the outset of the war I would not go it blind. 1892 Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 63 And faith he went the pace and went it blind. 1909 Daily Chron. 8 Feb. 4/4 If that be true, shall we be quite wise to ‘go blind’ on Dreadnoughts alone? 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey iii. viii, Yes; they go it blind; it's the only logical way now. |
j. Aeronaut. Applied to flying and aerial bombing executed by means of instruments without direct observation. Also as
adv. Hence
blind-bombing,
blind-flying,
blind-landing attrib.;
blind approach (see 16).
| 1919 Aviation 1 Feb. 22 Flying in fog, clouds or darkness—which may be called ‘blind flying’—involves difficulties not encountered in clear air. 1928 A. Klemin If you want to Fly 54 We have all sorts of instruments to tell us whether the plane is flying over an even keel, but it seems almost impossible to fly ‘blind’. 1930 Techn. News Bull., Bureau of Standards June 61/1 Various combinations of the three elements making up the blind-landing system have been tried. 1936 Nature 23 May 863/2 His development of blind-flying instruments employing gyroscopic principles. 1937 Times 16 Oct. 11/5 A machine which..can be landed ‘blind’ from any height. 1940 W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 284 The diminution of the damage done by blind bombing. 1944 Times 31 Jan. 4/6 Frankfurt was covered by cloud and ‘blind bombing’ methods were used. 1958 Times 17 Oct. 3/4 The blind landing experimental unit have now shown that it is possible to complete the landing automatically without the pilot touching the controls or even seeing the ground. |
k. a blind: used
colloq. with a following
n. to mean ‘a single ―’, ‘the least or slightest ―’.
| 1938 J. Curtis They drive by Night xvii. 193, I don't want a blind word out of either of you. 1941 Penguin New Writing II. 87 There's not a blind thing you can do about it. 1966 ‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse 9 'E wooden take a blind bit er notice of me. Ibid., Nobody could get a blind bit er sense outer 'im. |
l. to swear blind: to affirm emphatically and without qualification.
colloq.| 1963 J. Fowles Collector ii. 138 He swears blind that he sent the CND cheque, but I don't know. 1975 Economist 25 Jan. 72/3 The state is now to control over two-thirds of British Petroleum—but swears blind it won't behave as if it did. 1985 Byte Feb. 190/3 You can swear blind it's solving a partial differential equation and they would be hard put to prove it is not. |
II. fig. Without perception.
2. a. Of persons, their faculties, etc.; also
transf. of things: Lacking in mental perception, discernment, or foresight; destitute of intellectual, moral, or spiritual light.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxiii. 17 Ealá ᵹe dyseᵹan and blindan. c 1200 Ormin 16954 Unnwis mann iss blunnt and blind. a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 240 Four thynges..Þat mase a mans wytt blynd. c 1385 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 230 Blynde jugement of men. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 2 They are called blind in holy scripture, that haue not the true knowledge of God. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. (1851) 273 The blindest and corruptest times of Popedom. 1775 Sheridan Duenna ii. ii. 201 How blind some parents are! 1877 Mozley Univ. Serm. i. 8 That would be a blind and mistaken inference. |
b. Const.
to (
in obs.).
| 1662 Gerbier Brief Disc. (1665) 8 Surveyours who..are blind in the faults which their Workmen commit. 1759 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 368 The assembly chose..to be blind to the artificial part of his speech. 1856 Trevelyan in Life Macaulay II. xiv. 460 To be blind to the merits of a great author. |
c. blind side: the unguarded, weak or assailable side of a person or thing, weakness; also, formerly, the unsightly or unpresentable side. Also, the side on which the view is obstructed from sight. In
Rugby Football, the side of a scrum opposite to that on which the main line of the opponents' backs is ranged.
| 1606 Chapman Gentleman Usher i. i, For that, we'll follow the blind side of him. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. (1845) 27 The imperfect knowledge Saints have here is Satan's advantage against them: he often takes them on the blind side. 1711 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 147 This is the blindside of my lodging out of town; I must expect such inconveniencies. 1884 Chr. World 4 Sept. 657/1 The forts which they were enabled..to approach on their blind side. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 212 An instinct for the ‘blind side’ of whatever Hun machine he had in view, made him a master in the art of approaching unobserved. 1959 Times 30 Nov. 3/6 Cambridge were in peril now, but they came again, worked the blind side. |
3. a. Undiscriminating, for which no reason can be given; inconsiderate, heedless, reckless.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 4116 (Trin.) To haue her wille blynde c 1450 Crt. of Love cliii, Blind apetite of lust. 1615 Bedwell Moham. Imp. ii. §65 The Disciples..became blind and fearelesse. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty xi. 91 The blind veneration that generally is paid to antiquity. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. I. xi. 254 Self-will and blind prejudice. 1854 Dickens Hard T. v. 14 Who came round the corner with such blind speed. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. V. 254 His enemies struck at him with blind fury. |
b. Purposeless; fortuitous, random.
| 1873 Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 177 Service that's blind and objectless—A servant toiling for no master's good. |
4. Not possessing intelligence or consciousness; acting without discernment.
| 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. vi. 198 It is the Product not of blind Mechanism or blinder Chance. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings ix. 152 It is Will and not a blind necessity which rules in the armies of heaven. 1865 Mozley Mirac. vii. 292 note, Throughout the whole realm of nature blind agents or physical laws have been discovered. |
† 5. That blinds or misleads: false, deceitful.
Obs.| 1393 Gower Conf. I. 73 He..with blinde tales so her ladde That all his will of her he hadde. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. 34 His blynde prophecyes and deceytfull myracles. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Jack Cade v. 3 Iustly called false and blynde. |
III. Transferred.
6. a. Enveloped in darkness; dark, obscure.
arch.| a 1000 Be Domes Dæge 230 Sauwle on liᵹe On blindum scræfe byrnað & yrnað. a 1300 Cursor M. 3463 Bituix vnborn a batel blind. 1571 tr. Buchanan's Detect. Mary in H. Campbell Love-lett. Mary (1824) 152 Go hide yourself in a blind hole. 1606 Holland Sueton. 237 Meeting noe bodie [they] searched..everie blind corner. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Warres viii. 11 The blind and darksome night. 1666 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 94 The little blind bed-chamber. 1809 J. Barlow Columb. iii. 251 Dark fiend, that hides his blind abode. |
† b. Not lighted, having its light extinguished or cut off.
blind lantern: a dark lantern.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 228 Ȝe brenneþ, ac ȝe blaseþ nat · and þat is a blynde bekne. 1581 B. Rich Farewell Mil. Profession (1846) 168 One of these little Lanters, that thei call blinde Lanterns (because thei tourne them, and hide their light when they liste). 1591 in De Foe Hist. Ch. Scot. Addend. 56 Two Candlesticks with Two Blind Candles. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Cr. ii. v. 55 They adore the bare Altar, and blind Candles. |
7. a. Dim, as opposed to
bright or
clear; dim, like faded writing; indistinct, obscure. Now mostly
fig.| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 83 Þe sunnes bemez bot blo & blynde. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xlvii. (1495) 569 We vse to call al manere of precyous stones, that ben not precyous and shynynge, blynde. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 254 Auld bukis..writtin craftly on rude and hard parchement; bot thay wer sa blind, we micht nocht reid ilk tent wourd. 1552 Huloet, Blynde letters or wrytynges, caducæ literæ. 1852 Hawthorne Grandf. Chair ii. iv. 20 Written in such a queer, blind..hand. |
b. of a road or path: (see
quot.)
| 1815 Scott Guy M. xxii, Let him look along that blind road, by which I mean the track so slightly marked by the passengers' footsteps, that it can but be traced by a slight shade of verdure from the darker heath around it, and being only visible to the eye when at some distance, ceases to be distinguished while the foot is actually treading it. 1820 ― Monast. xxiii. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. i. 1 A blind pathway..winding through the stunted heath. |
c. Used of a letter indistinctly or imperfectly addressed.
blind man,
blind officer,
blind reader, a post-office employé who deals with such letters.
| 1864 W. Lewins Her Maj. Mails 204 The ‘blind Letter Office’ is the receptacle for all illegible, misspelt, and misdirected or insufficiently addressed letters or packets. 1883 Pall Mall G. 20 Aug. A few specimen letters which have recently racked the brains of the ‘blind readers’ at the Post Office. 1885 Pall Mall G. 13 May 5 The ingenuity of the ‘blind’ men of the Post Office. |
d. Bookbinding. Ungilt;
cf. blind-blocking,
-tooling in 16,
blind v. 8.
| 1835 ‘J. A. Arnett’ Bibliopegia 125 Graining may be properly considered as a blind ornament. 1846 Dodd Brit. Manuf. VI. 105 The block..imprints the device; whether it be gilt or ‘blind’. |
8. a. Out of sight, out of the way, secret, obscure, privy.
Cf. blind alley.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 105 Lurkynge in hernes and in lanes blynde. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1582) 409 a, Feasting..their secret friends in gardeins and blind tauerns. 1583 [see blind alley]. 1660 Blount Boscobel ii. (1680) 13 To a blind Inn in Charmouth. 1661 Pepys Diary 15 Oct. To St. Paul's Churchyard to a blind place where Mr. Goldsborough was to meet me. 1814 Scott Wav. xliii, Bailie Macwheeble having retired to..some blind change-house. |
b. Of a way or path: the notion of ‘secret, obscure,’ is often mixed up with those of ‘difficult to trace, confused or confusing, intricate, uncertain.’
| a 1593 H. Smith Wks. (1866–7) I. 218 Like a mark of knowledge in the turnings that lead unto blind by-ways. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 316 He..went by certaine blind wayes through the mountains and woods. 1634 Milton Comus 181 In the blind mazes of this tangled wood. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1858) 357 Inaccessible, except by such windings, and blind ways, as they themselves only who made them could find. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 76 Through blind ways of the wood he went. |
9. a. Covered or concealed from sight.
| 1513 Douglas æneis iii. x. 100 Blynd rolkis of Libie. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. i. i. (Arb.) 66 The keele..ranne vpon a blynde rocke couered with water. 1614 Markham Cheap. Husb. To Rdr., By evry high-way side or blinde ditch. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Warres 47 The place was full of blind Pits covered over with Rubbish. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 631 Surrounded with blind rocks, sunk a few feet below the water. 1882 Standard 16 Nov. 3/5 The ditches, overgrown with long grass and trailing brambles, were very ‘blind.’ |
b. Applied to a corner or other feature where the road or course ahead is concealed from view.
| 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 34 A further safety first proposal..is to eliminate the blind corners, i.e. corners where oncoming traffic cannot be seen. 1954 Wodehouse Jeeves & Feudal Spirit xvi. 161 No speeding? No passing on blind corners? 1957 S. Moss In Track of Speed xii. 148 We could keep at 170 over blind hillbrows. |
c. Applied to (the conduct of) a test or experiment in which information about the test that might lead to bias in the results is concealed from the tester or the subject (or both) until after the test is made,
esp. as
blind testing,
blind test. Of a person: taking part in such a test. Also as
adv. Cf. double-blind a.
| 1937, etc. [see double-blind a.]. 1962 Lancet 28 Apr. 874/1 The observer was reading the vaccine takes ‘blind’. 1971 Daily Tel. 25 Nov. 3 The place: The King's Lynn Festival... The purpose: a ‘blind’ test between a fine and a good red wine. 1971 Ibid. 20 Dec. 11/1, 20 wines will have to be identified, some of them down to their vintage. Apart from the ‘blind’ tasting there will be a short written paper. 1977 Lancet 5 Nov. 952/2 The performance was scored by two professional musicians... They were ‘blind’ not only to the drug therapy but also to the medical assessments and to each other's scoring. 1980 San Francisco Bay Guardian 16–23 Oct. 16/2, I participated in a blind tasting designed to compare leading examples of methode Champenoise sparkling wines from several countries. |
10. Having no openings or passages for light.
a. Arch. Of walls, etc.: Without windows or openings; (a window or door) walled up.
| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 516 The Cloister..shut in on everie side with high and blind wals. 1736 Carte Ormonde I. 273 Some of the inhabitants who let the rebels into the place through an old blind door that was broke open for them. 1820 L. Hunt Indicator No. 38 (1822) I. 297 This tower..seemed as blind as it was strong. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 41 The north walls of both nave and vestry were blind. 1874 Parker Illustr. Goth. Archit. i. iii. 61 In..Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford..the clerestory window has a smaller blind arch on each side of it. |
b. Of hedges and the like: Too thick or leafy to be seen through.
| 1718 Pope Iliad xi. 595 Some huntsman..From the blind thicket wounds a stately deer. 1863 Spring & Sum. Lapland 54 The hedges were getting too blind for hunting. |
c. Of an alphabetic letter: written or printed with the loop closed or filled in:
spec. in
Typogr. defining the paragraph mark with a closed loop.
| 1820 Keats Lett. (1958) II. 262 The fault is in the Quill: I have mended it and still it is very much inclin'd to make blind es. 1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab., Blind P. A paragraph mark ¶ so called from the loop of the P being closed. 1905 F. H. Collins Author & Printer 34 Blind ¶ , paragraph mark. |
d. Cookery. Applied to a pastry case baked before the filling is added (see
quots.). Also as
adv.| 1943 A. L. Simon Concise Encycl. Gastronomy IV. 92/2 Bake ‘blind’ till golden... ‘Blind’ means pricking paste well and filling with tissue paper and beans to stop crust rising. 1952 B. Nilson Penguin Cookery Book 313 If the flan is to be baked without a filling (i.e. ‘blind’), prick the bottom well. 1958 Woman 4 Oct. 23/1 ‘Baking blind’, simply means lining the pastry with a round of greaseproof paper, then weighting this down with rice or beans to prevent it rising during cooking. |
11. a. Closed at one end.
Cf. blind alley.
| 1662 [see blind alley]. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. 303 Yet could I not..find the Anastomoses of Vena Cava and Vena Porta open, but all blind. 1678 Salmon New Lond. Dispens. 818 They are of use in the blind Alembick. 1724 [see blind alley]. 1847–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 736 The cæcum towards its blind termination. 1878 Jefferies Gamekpr. at H. 116 Cross-passages, ‘blind’ holes and ‘pop’ holes. |
b. blind holes in
Mechanics: holes not coincident in plates to be riveted together.
| 1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuild. x. 194 The greater number of what are termed blind, or half-blind, holes are found in the edges. |
c. Applied to a geographical feature, as a spur, reef, or valley, that terminates abruptly.
| 1848 C. J. Pharazyn Jrnl. 15 Jan. (MS.) 97 Teddy and W. to lambs to drive them to pen, smother'd 10 in a blind gully. 1861 J. von Haast Rep. Topogr. & Geol. Expl. Nelson Prov. i. 8 We had selected a so-called blind spur, which fell abruptly into a deep gully. 1882 W. D. Hay Brighter Britain II. viii. 299 Eventually it proved that the find was but a ‘blind reef’, a ‘pocket’, a mere isolated dribble from the main continuous vein we had at first supposed we had struck. 1898 J. Geikie Earth Sculpture xiii. 217 Not less characteristic features of the karst-lands are the so-called blind-valleys and dry-valleys. Through the former a river flows to disappear into a tunnel at the closed or blind end. 1942 O. D. von Engeln Geomorphology xxii. 578 Blind valleys differ from pocket valleys in that the latter develop where underground water emerges in greater or less volume. |
d. Of a baggage-car on a train: see
quot. 1901.
U.S.| 1893 Daily Ardmoreite (Oklahoma) 8 Nov. 1/4 They didn't even have an opportunity to fire a tramp off the blind baggage. 1901 Scribner's Mag. XXIX. 429/1 The train's got a blind baggage-car on... That's a car that ain't got no door in the end that's next the engine. 1926 J. Black You can't Win ix. 120 With much caution I made my way..till I got near enough to the depot to get aboard the blind end of a baggage car. |
12. Of plants: Without buds or eyes, or without a terminal flower.
blind bud, one that bears no bloom or fruit, an abortive bud.
| 1884 J. E. Taylor Sagac. & Mor. Plants 70 Should such flowers fail to be crossed, no fruit is borne, and the flowers are then blind. Mod. These asters have turned out ‘blind.’ |
13. blind story, one without point.
| 1699 Bentley Phal. Pref. 64 He insinuates a blind Story about something and somebody. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 75 This story which in truth is but a blind one. |
† 14. transf. from sight to sound.
Obs.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxxi. (1495) 942 The blynde voyc stynteth soone · and is stuffyd and dureth not longe: as the sowne of erthen vessell. |
IV. Combinations.
15. General, as
blind-born,
blind-drunk (
Sc. blin'-fou), so intoxicated as to see no better than a blind man,
blind-eyed,
blind-hearted,
blind-weary.| c 975 Rushw. Gosp. John ix. 32 Eᵹo ðæs blinda-borones. a 1225 Ancr. R. 178 Þu ert blind iheorted, & ne isihst nout hwu þu ert poure & naked of holinesse. a 1300 Cursor M. 13601 Ȝe sai þat blind-born man was he. 1720 Welton Suff. Son of God II. xxii. 610 The poor, Blind-Born Man. c 1775 Sandman's Wedding: A Cantata, She being blind drunk Sir, Joe drove her away in his Cart. 1827 W. Clarke Every Night Book 191 Whenever I've been tipsy in your company, you have always been blind drunk. 1845 Disraeli Sybil III. iv. x. 132 Hang me if I wasn't blind drunk at the end of it. 1887 Morris Odyssey x. 493 Tiresias..The blind-eyed, the foreseer. 1902 Daily Chron. 18 Feb. 3/2 Are we to suppose, then, that Goethe..was a blind-eyed fool? 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 107 [The bat] flying slower, Seeming to stumble, to fall in air. Blind-weary. 1935 Mind XLIV. 434 Blind-born persons, such as Helen Keller, talk intelligently about colours. 1953 E. O'Neill Moon for Misbegotten iv. 140 Sure, I got so blind drunk at the Inn I forgot all about our scheme. |
16. Special comb., as
blind advertisement, also
blind ad.
U.S. (see
quot. 1948);
blind approach Aeronaut., an approach made without direct observation (see 1 j); applied
attrib. to a radio navigation system controlling such an approach;
blind area (
Arch.), a clear space around the basement wall of a house;
blind-axle, one that turns but does not move any other part of the mechanism,
= dead-axle;
blind back, applied
attrib. to a type of house that has no back door;
blind-ball, the Puff-ball (
Lycoperdon bovista), a fungus containing dust which is supposed to blind the eyes;
blind-beetle, a popular name for beetles which are apt to fly against people,
esp. by night; hence
blind-beetledness; also, a small beetle found in rice;
blind-blocking,
-tooling (
Bookbinding), ornamental impressions on book-covers produced by heated blocks, or tools, without goldleaf;
blind booking, the booking of films by cinema proprietors without previous selection on their merits;
blind creek (see
quot.);
blind date [
date n.2 2 c]
orig. and chiefly
U.S. colloq. (see
quot. 1929); also, the person with whom such a ‘date’ is arranged;
blind-fish, the
Amblyopsis spelæus, a fish without eyes found in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky;
blind-gallery (see
blind a. 10);
blind-harry (
Sc.), blind-man's-buff;
blind hazard, (
a) a game at cards; (
b)
Golf (see
quot.);
blind-hob, some game unknown;
blind hole Golf (see
quots.);
blind-hookey, a game at cards;
blind ink (see
quot.);
blind-level (see
quot.);
† blind-mouse, the mole; also the water shrew-mouse;
blind-pig U.S. colloq., a place where liquor is illicitly sold; hence
blind-pigger,
blind-pigging;
blind poker U.S. (see 1 h);
blind printing (see
quots.);
blind roller [
roller n.1 15] (see
quot. 1948);
blind-seed disease, a fungal disease of rye grass in which the seed fails to germinate; so
blind-seed fungus;
blind-shaft, a winze;
blind-shell (
Artillery), a shell containing no powder, also one that fails to explode when fired;
blind spot, (
a) the spot on the retina which is insensible to light; (
b)
Cricket, that spot of ground in front of a batsman where a ball pitched by the bowler leaves the batsman in doubt whether to play forward or back; (
c)
Radio (see
quot. 1923); (
d)
transf. and
fig.;
blind staggers (see
stagger n.1 2);
blind-stamping = blind-blocking; hence
blind-stamped ppl. a.;
blind stitch, a stitch taken on one side of the material so as to be invisible on the other; hence as
v. trans., to sew or fasten with blind stitch;
blind-story (
Arch.), a triforium or series of arches below the clerestory of a cathedral, admitting no light;
blind tiger U.S. = blind-pig;
blind tooling = blind-blocking;
blind trust N. Amer., a trust that administers the private business interests of a person in public office in order to prevent any possibility of conflict between these and the public interest;
blind-window, ? a window that admits no light; an arch of the blind-story. Also blind -coal, -gut,
-head, -nettle, -worm,
q.v.| 1948 Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. xi. 731 *Blind ad., an unsigned newspaper or magazine advertisement. 1962 ‘A. A. Fair’ Stop at Red Light ii. 25 The insurance company have been running a blind ad..offering one hundred dollars for any witness..to an accident..at Seventh and Main Streets. |
| 1842 Ainsworth's Mag. II. 43 The Puff Preliminary is known to..‘printer's devils’, by the less euphonious title of ‘a *blind advertisement’. |
| 1936 C. B. Allen Wonder Book of Air 300 To aid him in this, the present set-up in the radio ‘*blind approach’ system..includes the use of a string of powerful and distinctive lights. 1947 R. A. Smith Radio Aids to Navig. xi. 88 It is generally felt now that some form of glide path is preferable to an altimeter for blind approach. |
| 1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier iv. 53 House in Wallgate quarter. *Blind back type. One up, one down. Ibid. 56 Houses of what is called the ‘blind back’ type..in which the builder has omitted to put in a back door. |
| 1649 Lightfoot Battle w. Wasp's N. (1825) 389 If you must shame any body for *blind beetledness. |
| 1927 Glasgow Herald 20 Jan. 7 ‘*Blind-booking’ was responsible for a very large percentage of the machine-made pictures which came from America to this country. 1927 Daily Tel. 15 Mar. 9/2 The Labour-Socialists..are in favour of the proposals for the abolition of blind booking and restrictions on advance booking. |
| 1886 J. W. Anderson Prospector's Handbk. 115 *Blind Creek, a creek, dry, except during wet weather. |
| 1925 Lit. Digest 14 Mar. 65/1 No, got a *blind date on to-night. 1929 Amer. Speech IV. 420 A blind date, a date with someone whom the datee does not know but which is arranged by a third person. 1947 Chicago Tribune 14 June 18/8 In describing your blind date, I would say she has a wonderful personality. |
| 1880 Günther Fishes 618 The famous *Blind Fish of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky..is destitute of external eyes. |
| 1816 Singer Hist. Cards 263 We are informed the modern name of this game [Bankrout] is *Blind Hazard. 1900 A. E. T. Watson Yng. Sportsman 315 A Blind hazard is also a hazard which is hidden from his view. |
| a 1845 A. E. Bray Warleigh xvii. (1884) 135 In the servants' hall, playing at *blind hob and hot cockles. |
| 1900 A. E. T. Watson Yng. Sportsman 315 A *Blind hole is one of which the putting-green is not visible to the player as he plays his shot. |
| 1862 Thackeray Philip II. 100 Victimized by his own uncle..at a game called ‘*blind hookey.’ |
| a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Blind Ink. Invented by Edison. An ink which..swells up into relief on the paper. |
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Blind level, 1. A level not yet connected with other workings. 2. A level for drainage, having a shaft at either end, and acting as an inverted siphon. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 563 It hunteth Moles or *blinde Mice. 1770 Pennant Zool. IV. 83 It [the water shrewmouse] is called, from the smallness of its eyes, the blind mouse. |
| 1887 Minnesota Gen. Statutes Suppl. (1888) 248 Whoever shall attempt to evade or violate any of the laws of this state..by means of the artifice or contrivance known as the ‘*Blind Pig’ or ‘Hole in the Wall’..shall..be punished. 1903 N.Y. Even. Post 23 Sept., But a ‘blind pig’ is at best but a sordid institution. 1961 Spectator 28 July 135 Blind pigs—establishments with anonymous blank facades entered by a basement front door with a peep-hole. |
| 1894 Voice (N.Y.) 6 Dec. 1/5 Headed by one of the *blind-piggers who was under arrest. 1918 Webster Add., *Blind-pigging, n. 1927 Blackw. Mag. June 833/1 Amongst the common herd two crimes ranked as serious—‘blind-pigging’ and ‘high-grading’. |
| 1904 E. F. Strange Japanese Colour Prints xi. 110 In addition to the blocks for various colours, an effect of *blind printing (gauffrage) was often secured by the use of an additional printing from a clean block. 1926 H. Hubbard How to distinguish Prints 21 Charpentier and others..experimented with ‘blind printing’, that is, the use of an uninked relief block that merely embossed the paper with its engraved design. |
| 1888 G. O. Preshaw Banking under Difficulties xxv. 155 ‘*Blind rollers’ often rising and swamping a boat. 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict., Blind rollers, relatively heavy and often dangerous ocean swell caused by water in motion meeting lesser depth as it passes over shoals or approaches land. |
| 1939 J. C. Neill & E. O. C. Hyde in N.Z. Jrnl. Sci. & Technol. Feb. 283A, Low-germination trouble of otherwise apparently sound, well-harvested crops [of rye-grass] is caused by a pathogenic fungus... So unnoticeable are the symptoms that it has not yet even received a common name... It is proposed that it be called *Blind-seed Disease. Ibid. 288A, The blind-seed fungus appears to be allied to Helotium herbarum Fries. 1956 Nature 10 Mar. 466/1 Blind seed disease of ryegrass caused by Phialea temulenta. |
| 1864 Daily Tel. 4 May, The day was closed with..*blind shells for the purpose of completing the tables of ranges. |
| 1864 Baily's Monthly Mag. Sept. 301 Now the great difficulty of slows, besides being (as they ought all to be) ‘in the *blind spot’, consists in the elevation..of a dropping ball. 1872 Huxley Phys. ix. 219 So long as the image..rests upon the entrance of the optic nerve, it is not perceived, and hence this region of the retina is called the blind spot. 1891 Grace Cricket iii. 73 Too often would come a ball on the blind spot. 1907 G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Is. Pref. p. xli, You find that there is a blind spot on their moral retina, and that this blind spot is the military spot. 1910 Galsworthy Justice i. 19 No doing anything with them... They've got a blind spot. 1923 Daily Mail 13 Feb. 7 Wireless blind spots, where distant broadcasting is heard more clearly than that nearer at hand. 1932 E. V. Lucas Reading, Writing & Remembering viii. 150 He was too full of prejudices and had too many blind spots, to be the perfect critic. |
| 1784 J. Lewis Diary 4 Mar. in New Jersey Hist. Soc. Proc. (1941) LIX. 169 We discovered that my horse had a distemper called the *blind staggers. 1874 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 341 The disease is frequently called ‘blind staggers’. |
| 1931 Library XI. 395 Long after *blind-stamped pictorial panels had gone out of use in Paris. Ibid. 425 Business in the Gothic blind-stamped bindings. |
| 1910 Encycl. Brit. IV. 217/1 English binders excelled in this art of ‘*blind’ stamping, that is, without the use of gold leaf. |
| a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Blind Stitch. (Harness)... A stitch that is shown on one side only of the leather. 1909 Daily Chron. 14 Jan. 7/5 Facings should be blind-stitched into place. |
| c 1520 Myln Vitæ Dunkeld. Episcop. in Parker Gloss. Goth. Arch. I. 57 Construxit usque secundos arcus, vulgariter le *blyndstorys. 1848 Rickman Goth. Archit. Introd. 18, There is a passage in the thickness of the wall of the clerestory as well as in the triforium or blind-story. |
| 1857 Spirit of Times 23 May 182/1, I sees a kinder pigeon-hole cut in the side of a house, and over the hole, in big writin', ‘Blind Tiger, ten cents a sight.’.. That ‘*blind tiger’ was an arrangement to evade the law, which won't let 'em sell licker there, except by the gallon. 1884 Arkansas Digest Laws 1883 493 Any person..who shall sell..any alcohol..by such device as is known as ‘the blind tiger’,..shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. |
| 1818 Art Bk.-binding 31 In addition to the gilt back, rolled plain, that is, *blind-tooling, on the inside of the board. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. II. vi. 78 The charms of..tall copies, and blind tooling. |
| 1969 Sunday Times 23 Mar. 34 David Packard has put his $300 million worth of Hewlett Packard stock into a so-called *blind trust. 1972 Fortune Jan. 110/1 He resigned all of his other posts and put his holdings into a blind trust before taking the job. 1979 N.Y. Times 18 Jan. a1 The day he became President, Mr. Carter's 62 percent interest in the business was transferred to a ‘blind trust’ administered by..an Atlanta lawyer. |
| 1506 Bury Wills (1850) 107, I byqueth toward the makyng of ij *blynde wyndowes in the seid monasterij..xli. |
▸
blind item n. orig. and chiefly
U.S. (a) an item listed in a catalogue, ledger, etc., without a description of what it is;
(b) a (scandalous) story,
esp. in a gossip column, which does not reveal the names of the people being discussed.
| ? 1858 Facts for People of Michigan! (Republican Party, Mich.) 12/1 There is a large number of *blind items audited,..designated ‘sundries’, which is the only indication of their character. 1937 Washington Post 7 Mar. 3/1 No form of Hollywood gossip is half so vicious as those ‘blind items’ which are passed along to you surreptitiously over the luncheon table and behind closed doors. 1957 Zanesville (Ohio) Signal 8 Oct. 4 a/6 The Treasury Dept. looked into Gibbons' books. They found some blind items which Gibbons couldn't explain publicly. 2006 Philippine Daily Inquirer (Nexis) 23 Sept. That blind item I wrote some months ago about a PBA assistant coach being involved in cybersex should have served as a wake-up call. |
▸
blind carbon copy n. = blind copy n. 2.
Originally used of carbon-paper copies; later used irrespective of medium.
| 1968 Fresno (Calif.) Bee 10 Sept. 11 a/2 When typing letters that require *blind carbon copies to be sent, don't remove the original letter and then type the names of those who are to receive the blind carbons. 1992 Infoworld (Nexis) 6 Apr. 108 Standard memos include options for carbon copy and blind carbon copy. 2000 S. Sweeney Internet Marketing for your Tourism Business vii. 157 Make sure that you know how to use the blind carbon copy function in your e-mail program. |
▪ II. blind, v. (
blaɪnd)
Also 4–5
blynd(e.
pa. tense and pple. blinded:
pple. in 4
blind,
iblind, (5
blynyd).
[f. blind a., first in ME.: taking the place of the earlier equivalent blend v.1; or rather perhaps to be viewed as a phonetic variation of the latter, caused by assimilation to the adjective.] 1. trans. To make blind, deprive of sight:
a. permanently.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7246 Þai blinded him and prisund bath. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 40 Blyndyn, or make blynde, exceco. a 1450 Syr Eglam. 318 To the yeant he gafe a sowe And blyndyd hym in that tyde! 1753 Hanway Trav. I. v. lxxvi. 347 Ali was taken prisoner and blinded. 1875 Maine Hist. Inst. ii. 37 He had been accidentally blinded of one eye. |
b. temporarily,
e.g. by dazzling with a bright light, or by bandaging the eyes: To render insensible to light or colour.
| 1388 Wyclif Ecclus. xliii. 4 The sunne blyndith iȝen. 1530 Palsgr. 458/1 This great light blyndeth my syght. 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dow. iv. iv, Fear nothing, I will only blind your eyes. 1827 Hood Hero & L. xlv, His eyes are blinded with the sleety brine. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §5. 38 The effect..upon the eye is to blind it in some degree to the perception of red. |
c. Used in vulgar imprecations, as
blind me! Cf. blimey int.| 1890 Farmer Slang I. 230/1 Blimey, a corruption of ‘blind me!’; an expression little enough understood by those who constantly have it in their mouths. 1923 E. O'Neill Hairy Ape v. 47 There's a 'ole mob of 'em like 'er, Gawd blind 'em! a 1953 ― In Zone (1955) 523 'E ain't arf a sly one wiv 'is talk of submarines, gawd blind 'im. |
2. fig. a. To close the eyes of the understanding or moral perception; to deceive, ‘throw dust in the eyes’ of (persons and their faculties). Also, to render (mentally) blind or oblivious
to.
refl., to shut one's (mental) eyes
to.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17452 To man þat couaitis has blind. 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxiii. 8 Ȝiftes, that also blynden wise men. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 979 To blynde the rulers and deceyve the commynalte. 1611 Bible 2 Cor. iii. 14 But their mindes were blinded. 1720 Ozell tr. Vertot's Rom. Rep. II. ix. 92 A great Presumption blinded him from seeing his own Incapacity. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 123 Good-will to another may..blind our judgement. 1775 Sheridan Duenna iii. vi. 224 How jealousy blinds people! 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. I. ii. 98 Wolsey could not blind himself to the true condition of the church. 1908 E. F. Benson Climber x. 148 Even Edgar's invariable neatness did not blind her to the fact that he, too, was genuine. 1935 I. Compton-Burnett A House & its Head i. 6, I hope that my allowing you to treat the occasion as a festival, has not blinded you to its significance. 1944 W. S. Maugham Razor's Edge i. 10 The glamour of their resounding titles blinded him to their faults. 1979 T. Benn Arguments for Socialism i. 29 We should..not allow the horrors of persecution committed at various times in history by societies proclaiming themselves to be Christian to blind us to the true teachings of Christ. |
b. intr. To go blindly or heedlessly; to drive very fast. Also
fig. slang.| 1923 Daily Mail 21 June 12 Motor-cyclists who blind along the road. 1928 Daily Express 19 May 10/6 By recreation I do not mean blinding along the Brighton road at fifty miles an hour. 1935 Punch 21 Aug. 198/1 It is far better to get a little work done which is perfectly planned and organised than to let people go blinding on without anyone in authority knowing what they are doing. 1937 M. Allingham Dancers in Mourning iv. 58, I was blinding... Didn't see her until I was over her. 1954 C. Fry Dark is Light Enough ii. 71 A trap, they've set for us. Who's got our pistols? Gone blinding into it. |
3. a. To put out of sight, hide, conceal; make difficult to see or trace.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 21357 (Fairf.) Þe iewes hid hit efter-sone fra cristen men hit to blinde. 1709 C. Place in Bibl. Topogr. Brit. III. 106 The way [is] cunningly blinded by diversions. 1813 Scott Rokeby ii. iv, Oft doubling back in mazy train, To blind the trace the dews retain. 1821 Keats Lamia 373 Wherefore did you blind Yourself from his quick eyes. |
† b. To hide from the understanding, to obscure; to represent as obscure.
Obs.| 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 166 Those desarts which Ptolomy blindeth under the name Terra Incognita. a 1700 Stillingfl. (J.) The state of the controversy..he endeavoured with all his art to blind and confound. |
† 4. To come in the way of; to intercept.
Obs.| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 12152 Oure shryfte þe deuyl blyndeþ. c 1450 Lonelich Grail lvi. 174 From here schepis we scholen hem blynde. |
5. a. To deprive (things) of light; to darken.
| a 1643 W. Cartwright Lady Errant i. iii. (1651) 10 They have laid aside their Jewels, and so Blinded their garments. a 1700 Dryden (J.) Such darkness blinds the sky. 1847 J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) I. 146 Let the honeysuckle..blind unchecked a corner of the kitchen-window. |
b. To dim by excess of light; to eclipse.
| 1633 P. Fletcher Pisc. Eclog. vi. (L.) Her beauty all the rest did blind. 1842 Tennyson Tithonus 38 Thy [Aurora's] sweet eyes..blind the stars. |
6. Gunnery. To provide with blindages.
| 1850 Alison Hist. Europe XIV. lxxxvii. §4 Extraordinary precautions..to render nugatory the effects of a bombardment, by blinding the ships..with turf, wet blankets, and..other articles. 1870 Standard 12 Dec., Guns blinded with iron mantelets. |
7. intr. To be or become blind or
dim. arch.| c 1305 Old Age ix. in E.E.P. (1862) 149, I blind, I bleri. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1126 Ho blyndes of ble. 1822 Beddoes Bride's Trag. ii. iv, Thy bright eye would blind at sights like this! |
8. trans. In
Bookbinding, to stamp
in (a pattern) without gilding.
| 1901 Cockerell Bookbinding 212 The pattern is blinded in through the leather. |
9. To cover the surface of (a newly made road) with fine material.
Cf. blinding vbl. n. 4.
| 1812 J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 66 No large stones to be employed..nor sand, earth or other matter, on pretence of blinding [the road]. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim & Down s.v., To ‘blind a road’ = to spread small stones or cinders so as to cover up the large stones, with which a new road has been ‘pitched’, and to fill the interstices. |
▪ III. blind, n. (
blaɪnd)
Also 4
blynde, 6
blynd, 6–7
blinde.
[f. blind v. (? or adj.)] 1. Anything which obstructs the light or sight.
| 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. vii. iv. (1852) 522 Blinds to keep..light from entring into the souls of men. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 402 If I have an antient window overlooking my neighbour's ground, he may not erect any blind to obstruct the light. 1815 Byron Parisina xvii, To bind Those eyes which would not brook such blind. |
2. spec. A screen for a window, made of woven material mounted on a roller, of wire gauze, etc.; used to prevent the entrance of too much light, or to keep people from seeing in.
Venetian blinds: those made of light laths fixed on strips of webbing.
| 1730 Window-Blind [see window n. 5 a]. 1771 J. S. Copley in Copley-Pelham Lett. (1914) 142 Those Windows having new fassioned Blinds such as you see in Mr Clarke's Keeping room. 1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 19 The women..flew to their blinds to discover the cause. 1788 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1861) II. 67 The making visits..is done in a carriage with blinds. 1855 Dickens Dorrit i, Blinds, shutters, curtains, awnings were all closed and drawn. |
3. A blinker for a horse;
cf. 11.
| 1828 Webster s.v., A blind..for a horse. 1848 Congress. Globe 30 June, App. 820/1 [Mr. Polk] was worked into the Presidency with Oregon and Texas on either side, as a horse is worked with blinds. 1901 Munsey's Mag. XXV. 739/1 A halter has a soft leather covered bit, and is without blinds. |
4. Fortification. A blindage.
| 1644 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. II. 739 Massey caused a blind to be made across the street. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4692/1 We had thrown up some Blinds to cover our Men. 1802 C. James Milit. Dict. s.v. |
5. Any means or place of concealment.
spec. a hiding-place in which a hunter conceals himself from the game. (
U.S.).
| 1646 Shirley On Death of C. Dalby, So will they..sleep Till the last trumpet wake 'em, and then creep Into some blind. 1697 Dryden Virg. (1806) III. 52 The watchful shepherd, from the blind, Wounds with a random shaft the careless hind. 1818 Niles' Reg. XV. 64/2 Col. Boon rode to a deer lick, seated himself within a blind raised to conceal him from the game. 1869 Game Laws (Penn.) in Fur, Fin & Feather (1872) 94 No person shall..build blinds for the purpose of killing..any wild turkey. 1874 J. W. Long Wild-Fowl Shooting 45 Ingenuity in the providing of proper ambush, or blind, as all such hiding places are generally termed by wild-fowlers. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 73/2 A glance..discloses the fact that no time should be wasted in getting started for the blinds. |
6. fig. Any thing or action intended to conceal one's real design; a pretence, a pretext.
spec. (see
quot. 1929).
| 1664–94 South 12 Serm. II. 208 A Practice, which duly seen into, and stript of its Hypocritical Blinds, could not, etc. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 150 (1756) II. 263 Her constant care of me was only a blind. 1732 Swift Wks. (1841) II. 127 These verses were only a blind to conceal the most dangerous designs of the party. 1833 Coleridge Table-t. 14 May, There is one sonnet [of Shakspeare's] which, from its incongruity, I take to be a purposed blind. 1929 Amer. Speech IV. 338 Blind, a legitimate business used to conceal an illegitimate one. 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad viii. 107 Another man..used to trade dogs as a blind. |
† 7. Naut. A spritsail [
= Du. blinde].
Obs.| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 20 With fuksaill, topsaill, manesall, musall, and blynd. |
8. In Poker, a stake put up by a player before seeing his cards (see
quots.);
cf. blind a. 1 h. Also
attrib. in
blind-money. Also
fig.| 1857 Hoyle's Games (Amer. ed.) 289 Should a party see fit to call the blind, [he] must put twice the number in the pool. 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. at Home (1882) ii. 268 Now you talk! You see my blind and straddle it like a man. 1882 Poker 49 The straddle is nothing more than a double blind. Ibid. 91 It is an error on the part of the Age to fill the Blind simply because he has already invested the Blind-money. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 283/2 The next player [to the age] may double the blind, i.e., raise to double what the age staked; the next may straddle the blind, i.e. double again,..and so on. Only the age can start a blind. 1888 Farmer Americanisms, Blind (in poker), the ante deposited by the age previous to the deal... To make a blind good costs double the amount of the ante, and to make a straddle good costs four times the amount of the blind. 1894 Congress. Rec. May 4408/2 Put up your blind. It's my deal. |
9. A blind baggage car on a train (see
blind a. 11 d).
U.S.| 1893 Chicago Record 14 July 11/3 In hobo language ‘beating the blinds’ means to steal a ride on the mail car next to the engine. 1895 Dialect Notes. I. 390 Jump the blind, to steal a ride on platform of baggage-car. 1948 Sat. Even. Post 31 July 89/1 If there were any hobos on the blind, they would step off into my arms. |
10. [
f. blind a. 1 g.] A drunken bout or orgy; a binge.
| 1917 A. Waugh Loom of Youth i. iii. 37 For six weeks we'll train like Hades, and then, when we've got the cup, we'll have a blind. 1936 G. Greene Journey Without Maps ii. iv. 189 It became more and more like a blind in Paris..in the Montparnasse bar. 1943 J. B. Priestley Daylight on Sat. x. 67 I'm not off on a blind, if that's what you're worrying about. 1943 Mind LII. 280 How much of my reaction against a ‘blind’ on a Saturday night is due to my puritanical upbringing? |
11. Comb. chiefly
attrib., as (in sense 2)
blind-cord,
blind-maker,
blind-pulley,
blind-roller, etc.; (in sense 3)
blind-halter,
blind-winkers;
blind-bridle, a bridle with blinkers.
| 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4875/4 Galled on both sides of her Head with a blind Halter. 1833 J. Hall Harpe's Head 30 Some rode with blind-bridles. 1837 N. Whittock Bk. Trades 488 Blind (Venetian)..maker. 1866 Youatt Horse v. (1872) 113 Last of all, the blind winkers. 1881 Mechanic §714 How to make a blind-roller. 1883 Cable Dr. Sevier vi, A quarter circle of iron-work set like a blind-bridle. 1894 Daily News 12 Nov. 7/2 William Wilshaw.., a blindmaker, was sentenced to death. |