turn a blind eye
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: tûrn′ ə blīnd′ ī′
enpr: tûrn′ ā′-
ipa: /ˈtɜːn ə ˌblaɪ̯nd ˈaɪ̯/
ipa: /ˈtɜːn ˌeɪ̯-/
ipa: /ˈtɜɹn ə ˌblaɪ̯nd ˈaɪ̯/
ipa: /ˈtɜɹn ˌeɪ̯-/
ipa: /ˈtɜɹn ə ˌblʌɪ̯nd ˈʌɪ̯/
ipa: /ˈtɜːn ə ˌblɑe̯nd ˈɑe̯/
ipa: /ˈtɜːn ˌæɪ̯-/
ipa: /ˈtøːn ə ˌblaɪ̯nd ˈaɪ̯/
ipa: /ˈtøːn ˌæɪ̯-/
ipa: /ˈtʌɹn ə ˌblaɪ̯nd ˈaɪ̯/
ipa: /ˈtʌɹn ə ˌblʌi̯nd ˈʌi̯/
ipa: /ˈtʌɹn ə ˌbləi̯nd ˈəi̯/
ipa: /ˈtʌɹn ˌe-/
ipa: /ˈʈəːʳn a ˌblajnɖ ˈaj/
ipa: /ˈʈəːʳn ˌeː-/
Forms: form: turns a blind eye
form: turning a blind eye
form: turned a blind eye
form: turned a blind eye
form: turn the blind eye
Etymology: Probably from the idea of a person turning to look at something but not seeing it, as if their eyes are blind.
The term is frequently claimed to originate from an incident during the First Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801, when Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758–1805) was ordered by Admiral Hyde Parker (1739–1807) through signal flags to discontinue naval action against a force of the Dano-Norwegian Navy. Nelson, who had been blinded in one eye early in his career, said to his flag captain Thomas Foley (1757–1833), “You know, Foley, I have only one eye—I have a right to be blind sometimes.” He then put his telescope to his blind eye and, remarking “I really do not see the signal,” continued the assault which ended in a British victory. However, this is not the source of the term as the Oxford English Dictionary records uses dating to the 17th and 18th centuries.
Senses: examples: text: The mother turned a blind eye to her son’s mischief as she expected him not to repeat it.
text: The great Advantage of thus vvalking by Faith is, that it vvill help us […] to turn the deaf Ear, and the blind Eye to all thoſe Pomps and Vanities of the VVorld vvhich vve renounc'd at our Baptiſm, and to have it no longer in our Hearts, but under our Feet.
ref: 1698, John Norris, “A Discourse of Walking by Faith. In Two Parts.”, in Practical Discourses upon Several Divine Subjects, […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Manship […], and J. Jones […], →OCLC, part I, pages 222–223:
text: […] I must say that for some reasons we wanted such a person very much, and find her very useful, so I turn a blind eye and a deaf ear every now and then, and we get on marvellously well.
ref: 1823 October 1 (date written), Martha Wilmot, More Letters from Martha Wilmot: Impressions of Vienna, 1819–1829, […], London: Macmillan and Co., published 1935, →OCLC, page 197:
text: I do not speak of portraiture in marble. In this my countrymen, without having produced any really very great work, by the old standards, make a respectable show, as compared with the average portrait sculpture of the day of other nations. In saying this, however, we must turn a blind eye to a considerable number of statues of our distinguished citizens which even more lamentably exhibit the defects arising from ignorance of modeling and design, impatience of study and self-conceit, than the ideal compositions by the same hands, because the contrasts between the ill-constructed effigy and the familiar living man, to the spectator, is too palpably unpleasant to be long overlooked.
ref: 1880 October 11, James Jackson Jarves, “Future American art: The growth of truer feeling and sounder methods”, in The New York Times, volume XXX, number 9076, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, column 4:
text: A blacker thing than blood's own dye / Weighed down great Hawkins on the sea; / And Nelson turned his blindest eye / On Naples and on liberty.
ref: [1915, Gilbert K[eith] Chesterton, “[War Poems.] Blessed are the Peacemakers.”, in Poems, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published 1916, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 32:
text: The party's top official in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, tweeted at the time that the police force was "turning a blind eye" to loyalist paramilitaries—those engaging in violence as part of a decades-long fight to maintain the region’s status as part of the United Kingdom—"while targeting those laying flowers on the anniversary of loved ones."
ref: 2023 September 5, Megan Specia, “Northern Ireland police chief resigns amid mounting scandals”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Nov 2023:
text: She [Emmeline Taylor] said, facing a cost of living crisis, many consumers were more willing to "turn a blind eye" to stolen food.
ref: 2023 December 22, Robyn Vinter, “Britons increasingly turning to food black market, experts say”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2024:
info_templates: extra_data: words: to
expansion: [with to]
synonyms: close one's eyes
shut one's eyes
wink
;
connive
glosses: To deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something, especially when improper or unpleasant; to look the other way.
wikipedia: Oxford English Dictionary
Thames & Hudson
Tom Pocock
Related terms: word: close one's eyes
word: shut one's eyes
word: there are none so blind as those who will not see
word: willful blindness
word: willful ignorance
english: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil
translation: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil
word: 🙊🙉🙈