blind

{ Blind , Blinde } (&?;), n. See Blende.

Blind (&?;), n. 1. Something to hinder sight or keep out light; a screen; a cover; esp. a hinged screen or shutter for a window; a blinder for a horse.

2. Something to mislead the eye or the understanding, or to conceal some covert deed or design; a subterfuge.

3. [Cf. F. blindes, p&?;., fr. G. blende, fr. blenden to blind, fr. blind blind.]

(Mil.) A blindage. See Blindage.

4. A halting place. [Obs.] Dryden.

Blind (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blinded; p. pr. & vb. n. Blinding.]

1. To make blind; to deprive of sight or discernment. "To blind the truth and me." Tennyson.

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

2. To deprive partially of vision; to make vision difficult for and painful to; to dazzle.

Her beauty all the rest did blind.
P. Fletcher.

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

Such darkness blinds the sky.
Dryden.

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

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

Blind (&?;), a. [AS.; akin to D., G., OS., Sw., & Dan. blind, Icel. blindr, Goth. blinds; of uncertain origin.]

1. Destitute of the sense of seeing, either by natural defect or by deprivation; without sight.

He that is strucken blind can not forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.
Shak.

2. Not having the faculty of discernment; destitute of intellectual light; unable or unwilling to understand or judge; as, authors are blind to their own defects.

But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall.
Milton.

3. Undiscerning; undiscriminating; inconsiderate.

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

4. Having such a state or condition as a thing would have to a person who is blind; not well marked or easily discernible; hidden; unseen; concealed; as, a blind path; a blind ditch.

5. Involved; intricate; not easily followed or traced.

The blind mazes of this tangled wood.
Milton.

6. Having no openings for light or passage; as, a blind wall; open only at one end; as, a blind alley; a blind gut.

7. Unintelligible, or not easily intelligible; as, a blind passage in a book; illegible; as, blind writing.

8. (Hort.) Abortive; failing to produce flowers or fruit; as, blind buds; blind flowers.

Blind alley, an alley closed at one end; a cul- de-sac. -- Blind axle, an axle which turns but does not communicate motion. Knight. -- Blind beetle, one of the insects apt to fly against people, esp. at night. -- Blind cat (Zoöl.), a species of catfish (Gronias nigrolabris), nearly destitute of eyes, living in caverns in Pennsylvania. -- Blind coal, coal that burns without flame; anthracite coal. Simmonds. - - Blind door, Blind window, an imitation of a door or window, without an opening for passage or light. See Blank door or window, under Blank, a. -- Blind level (Mining), a level or drainage gallery which has a vertical shaft at each end, and acts as an inverted siphon. Knight. -- Blind nettle (Bot.), dead nettle. See Dead nettle, under Dead. -- Blind shell (Gunnery), a shell containing no charge, or one that does not explode. -- Blind side, the side which is most easily assailed; a weak or unguarded side; the side on which one is least able or disposed to see danger. Swift. -- Blind snake (Zoöl.), a small, harmless, burrowing snake, of the family Typhlopidæ, with rudimentary eyes. -- Blind spot (Anat.), the point in the retina of the eye where the optic nerve enters, and which is insensible to light. -- Blind tooling, in bookbinding and leather work, the indented impression of heated tools, without gilding; -- called also blank tooling, and blind blocking. -- Blind wall, a wall without an opening; a blank wall.