▪ I. blear, a.
(blɪə(r))
Forms: 5–6 blere, 6–7 bleare, 7 bleer(e, 7– blear.
[ME. blere, an epithet of the eyes: this and the cognate verb are of uncertain origin. There are no corresponding words in OE., and the only cognates in other Teutonic langs. are the mod.G. blerr soreness of the eyes, LG. blarr-oged, bleer-oged blear-eyed. Sw. plira, Da. plire to blink, leer, can hardly be connected. Though the vb. appears in our quotations before the adj., the form of the words and general analogies make it probable that the vb. was formed on the adj.]
1. Of the eyes or sight: Dim from water or other superficial affection.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xxi. (1495) 333 The syghte of a candyll is seen wythout lette of an eye that is hole, but of a blere eye it is nat seen wythout lykenesse and shape of a manere rayne bowe. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health ccv. 70 b, Blere eyes which is when the under lyd of the eye is subverted. 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 60 A medicine..to lay to sore and blere eyes. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. ii. i. (1651) 71 It causeth bleer eyes. 1840 Thackeray Paris Sk.-Bk. (1872) 49 Her eyes grew watery and blear. 1843 Ainsworth Tower Lond. (1864) 47 His eyes were blear and glassy. |
| fig. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. i. (1851) 30 If our understanding..be blear with gazing on other false glisterings. |
2. transf. Dim, misty, indistinct in outline.
| 1634 Milton Comus 153 To cheat the eye with blear illusion. 1809 J. Barlow Columb. i. 596 The blear ice..sheds a dazzling glare. 1830 Aird in Blackw. Mag. XXVIII. 813 On the blear autumn eves, When small birds shriek adown the wind. |
Hence blear-eyed a. q.v.; blear-witted, having the mental faculties dimmed.
| 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. v. ii, They were very blear-witted, i' faith, that could not discern the gentleman in him. |
▪ II. blear, n. rare.
[? f. the adj. or vb.]
Blearing, blearness; in pl. blearedness of eyes, bleared eyes.
| 1603 Philotus vi, I think ane man sir, of ȝour ȝeiris, Sould not be blyndit with the bleiris. 1868 Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. 125 The blear of our sin. |
▪ III. blear, v.1
(blɪə(r))
Forms: 3 bleri, 4–6 blere, 6 bler (blirre), 6–7 bleer(e, bleare, 6– blear.
[The ME. forms point to an OE. *blerian or *blierian intr. in sense 1, f. the adj.; but no such form is known: see blear a. Cf. also blur.]
† 1. intr. To have watery or inflamed eyes, to be blear-eyed. (Said also of an albino.) Obs.
| a 1300 Old Age in E.E.P. (1862) 149, I stunt i stomere, I stomble . i blind, i bleri. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. x, For she..Unwarely can do blere a mannes eye. 1483 Cath. Angl. 34 To Blere, lippire, lippiscere. a 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 667 Quhat may ȝone fell freik be, [that] With the quhite berd and scarlat ene dois bleir? 1570 Levins Manip. 209 To Bleare, lippire. |
b. with complemental object.
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, clxxxvii, The new-raised morne (like Eyes ill-wak't) Blears through the Deaw faint Raies. |
2. trans. To dim (the eyes) with tears, rheum, or inflammation; to dim the vision of.
| 1340–1525 [see bleared]. 1528 More Heresyes iii. Wks. 206/2 The brightnesse blered myne eye. 1530 Palsgr. 457/2 His eyes be so bleared with drinkyng that they be as reed as a fyrret. 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas (1641) 2/2 The Suns bright beams do blear the sight Of such as fix'dly gaze against his light. 1728 T. Sheridan Persius iii. (1739) 45, I used to find out Ointments to blear my Eyes. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. i. lviii, He..bleared his eyes with books. |
b. To blur (the countenance) as with tears.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 9132 The teris..blaknet with bleryng all hir ble qwite. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. i. vii. 170 The Earth smiles not on us, nor the Heaven; but weeps and blears itself, in sour rain. 1861 Temple & Trevor Tannhäuser 8 That tremendous Doom..Shatter'd the superstitious dome that blear'd Heaven's face to man. |
3. (fig.) to blear the eyes: to deceive, blind, ‘hoodwink,’ ‘throw dust in the eyes.’ Very common in 16th c.
| c 1325 Coer de L. 3708 So queyntyly to blere myn eye. c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's T. 148 For al thy waytyng, blered is thin ye. a 1400 Octouian 1387 For to blere the Soudanes ye Queynte lesynges he gan to lye. 1537 T. Cromwell in Froude Hist. Eng. III. 229 You have bleared my eyes once. Your credit shall never more serve you so far to deceive me the second time. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. i. 120 While counterfeit supposes bleer'd thine eine. 1714 T. Ellwood Autobiog. 220 To blear Mens Eyes with Fopperies. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix, ‘I want nane o' your siller..to make ye think I am blearing your ee.’ 1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) I. iii. 91 Henry III was seeking to blear the eyes of the world. |
† b. In the same sense the simple vb. was used.
| 1530 Palsgr. 457/2 I bleare, I begyle by dissymulacyon. [1570 Levins Manip. 142 To blirre, fallere.] 1613 E. Hoby Counter-sn. 14 Blearing his Reader, that these are but worme-eaten sayings. 1642 T. Taylor God's Judgem. i. i. xvii. 54 He was so besotted and bleared with them. |
▪ IV. † blear, v.2 Obs.
Forms: 4–7 blere, 5 bleere, 6 bleare, 6– blear.
[app. distinct from the prec.: perhaps onomatopœic, but naming a gesture rather than a sound, though some inarticulate sound may have originally been implied. Cf. blare v.]
intr. To protrude the tongue in mockery. Also to blear with the tongue. trans. to blear (out) the tongue (at, against, upon).
| a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2226 And grymly gryn on hym and blere. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 60 While þou art a child, With þi tunge on folk þou bleere. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 86 The asse..bleryd, grennyd and songe. 1530 Palsgr. 457/2, I bleare with the tonge. Ibid. The knave bleareth his tonge at me. 1535 Coverdale Isa. lvii. 4 Vpon whom gape ye with youre mouth, & bleare out youre tonge? 1550 ― Spir. Perle xxix. (1588) 279 Not once to blear or to open their mouths against it. 1605 Bp. Andrewes Serm. ii. 173 Wagging their heads, writhing their mouths, yea blearing out their tongues. |
¶ Cf. the following, and blare v.
| 1616 T. Scott Christ's Polit. 7 All that the silly sheep can do, is only to bleare and bleate a little with his tongue. |