purblind
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɜːblaɪnd/
ipa: /ˈpɝblaɪnd/
Forms: form: purblinds
form: purblinding
form: purblinded
form: purblinded
Etymology: 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”)).
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.
Senses: examples: text: 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; […]
ref: 1661, Alex[ander] Brome, “A New-years-gift”, in Songs and Other Poems […], 3rd edition, London: […] Henry Brome, […], published 1668, →OCLC, page 219:
text: It is ſtrange to think, hovv ſound and clear, and diſtinct a Man's Judgment, vvill be againſt thoſe Evils in others, vvhich he ſeeth not in himſelf; […] Self-love ſo purblinds them in this Reflection, that they cannot diſcern that in themſelves, vvhich others cannot but diſcern.
ref: a. 1664 (date written), Hugh Binning, “Sermon XX. I John i. 10.”, in The Works of the Pious, Reverend and Learn’d Mr. Hugh Binning, […], Edinburgh: […] R. Fleming and Company, and sold by Mr. James Davidson, and John Paton, […], published 1735, →OCLC, page 450, column 1:
text: Were he not, as has been said, purblinded by enchantment, you had but to bid him open his eyes and look.
ref: 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Symbols”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, pages 152–153:
text: [H]is [Albert, Prince Consort's] self-isolation from politics, whether of court or country, commanded a national admiration, intense no doubt, but tempered with a suspicion of "part-playing" unjust to the man as it would have been unpardonable in the people, had it not originated in that traditional jealousy of the democracy not only of England, but of every other country, which purblinds it to the integrity of beneficial influences flowing spontaneously through an atmosphere of regal regions.
ref: c. 1877, E[dward] Farr, E[dward] H[enry] Nolan, chapter XIII, in David Hume, Tobias Smollett, E. Farr, E. H. Nolan, The History of England, […], volume IV, London; New York, N.Y.: Virtue and Co., […], →OCLC, page 407, column 2:
text: My only light was provided by a one-hundred-watt G.E. bulb hanging from a mouse-chewed wire above my bed. The glare from this light was purblinding and I wrapped toilet paper around it to act as a shade.
ref: 1972, David Rhodes, chapter V, in The Last Fair Deal Going Down (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book), Boston, Mass.; Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 164:
qualifier: often passive voice
glosses: To cause (someone) to have impaired vision or become partially blind.