purblind
adjEtymology
The adjective is derived from Middle English purblind (“(adjective) completely blind; blind in one eye; near-sighted; (noun) near-sighted animal, specifically a hare”) [and other forms], possibly from pur, pure (“completely, entirely”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“to be clean; pure”); influenced by pur- (prefix meaning ‘completely; forward; in advance’)) + blind (“sightless, blind”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- (“to blend, mix up; to make cloudy or opaque”)). Adjective sense 4.1 (“completely blind”) was the original sense. The senses denoting partial blindness are possibly the result of confusion of the first element pur- with poor, perhaps through folk etymology. (Compare parboil regarding per versus pars.) The noun and verb are derived from the adjective.
- inherited from purblind — “(adjective) completely blind; blind in one eye; near-sighted; (noun) near-sighted animal, specifically a hare”
Definitions
Of a person
Of a person: having impaired vision; partially blind; dim-sighted.
- And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare, / Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles, / How he outruns the wind, and with what care, / He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles: […]
Of the eyes
Of the eyes: unable to see well, especially due to old age; weak.
Of a place
Of a place: poorly illuminated; dark, dim.
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Completely blind.
- Speake to my goſhip Venus one faire vvord, / One nickname for her purblind ſonne and her, / Young Abraham: Cupid he that ſhot ſo true, / VVhen King Cophetua lou'd the beger mayd.
- This vvimpled vvhy[n]ing purblind vvayvvard Boy, / This ſignior Iunios gyant dvvarffe, dan Cupid, […]
- This is a nevv ſalute: / Sure h'as forgot me: this is pur-blinde Cupid.
Having one eye blind.
Near-sighted, short-sighted
Near-sighted, short-sighted; myopic.
- Pore-blinde Men, ſee beſt in the Dimmer Lights; And likevviſe haue their Sight Stronger neere hand, than thoſe that are not Pore-blinde, And can Reade and VVrite ſmaller Letters.
- I am sorry to hear your complaints still of giddiness. I was in hopes you would have mended, like my purblind eyes, with old age.
Far-sighted, long-sighted
Far-sighted, long-sighted; hypermetropic.
A person who has impaired vision or is partially blind.
- To love and adore is our proper province, not to knovv much; for as to knovvledge, vve are mere purblinds both in naturals and ſpirituals.
- By the freak of Fortune we were like to like, three Kalendars and three purblinds, all blind of the left eye.
To cause (someone) to have impaired vision or become partially blind.
- And may the Sun, that novv begins t'appear / I'th Horizon to uſher in the year, / Melt all thoſe fatuous Vapours, vvhoſe falſe light / Purblinds the VVorld, and leads them from the right; […]
- Were he not, as has been said, purblinded by enchantment, you had but to bid him open his eyes and look.
The neighborhood
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for purblind. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA