purblind
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɜːblaɪnd/
ipa: /ˈpɝblaɪnd/
Forms: form: more purblind
form: most purblind
form: poreblind
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: Thy dignitie or autorite, wherin thou onely differest from other, is (as it were) but a weighty or heuy cloke, fresshely gliteringe in the eyen of them that be poreblynde, where unto the it is paynefull, if thou weare hym in his right facion, and as it shal best become the.
ref: 1531, Thomas Elyot, “The Thre Noble Counsayles of Reason, Societe, and Knowlege”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 203:
text: 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: […]
ref: 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 114], lines [679–682]; republished as Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, →OCLC, verse 114, page 41, lines 679–682:
text: [H]e vvent into one of the boxes at the play-houſe, as uſual, to ſhevv himſelf to the ladies; and in reconnoitring the company through a glaſs, (for no other reaſon, but becauſe it vvas faſhionable to be purblind) perceived his miſtreſs very plainly dreſſed, in one of the ſeats above the ſtage, talking to another young vvoman of a very homely appearance.
ref: 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “The Young Gentleman Having Settled His Domestick Affairs, Arrives in London, and Sets Up a Gay Equipage. He Meets with Emilia, and is Introduced to Her Uncle.”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume III, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 12:
text: They […] ate the messes compounded for them in a darksome cupboard, known as the kitchen, by old Nanon the cook, purblind, stone-deaf, and all but imbecile, and popularly supposed to be the venerable mother of Madame Magnotte.
ref: 1868, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “Lenoble of Beaubocage”, in Charlotte’s Inheritance […], volume I, London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler […], →OCLC, book I (De Profundis), page 2:
text: [T]here were shown in to us an old, worn, purblind, ascetic-looking priest, […]
ref: 1891 February–December, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Hatiheu”, in In the South Seas […], New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1896, →OCLC, part I (The Marquesas), page 63:
synonyms: word: bisson
word: half-sighted
word: moonblind
word: purblinded
word: sandblind
glosses: Of a person: having impaired vision; partially blind; dim-sighted.
glosses: Of the eyes: unable to see well, especially due to old age; weak.
examples: text: Yet did my Breſt that glorious fire incloſe, / VVhich their dull purblind Ignorance not ſavv, […]
ref: 1607, Michael Drayton, “The Legend of Great Cromwell”, in Poems: […], London: […] Willi[am] Stansby for Iohn Smethwicke, published 1630, →OCLC, page 437:
text: O purblind race of miserable men, / How many among us at this very hour / Do forge a life-long trouble for ourselves. / By taking true for false, or false for true.
ref: 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 45–46:
text: When she ceased the auricular impressions from their previous endearments seemed to hustle away into the corners of their brains, repeating themselves as echoes from a time of supremely purblind foolishness.
ref: 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXV, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume II, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the fifth (The Woman Pays), page 200:
text: A herd of palsied purblind idiots hugging their sterile profits close to their sunken chests in the face of my father’s displeasure.
ref: 1951, Isaac Asimov, chapter 16, in Foundation, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published March 1967, →OCLC, part V (The Merchant Princes), page 191:
text: The public is the pupae of the purposely purblind […]
ref: 1959 April 21, Walt Kelly, Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Seattle, Wash.: Fantagraphics Books, published 2011, →ISBN, page 34:
text: Finally, between 1880 and 1900, an explosive burst of experimental activity at last drove home the truth of germ theory to all but the most purblind of critics.
ref: 2002, John Waller, “Introduction: Revolutionary, by Any Standards”, in John Turney, editor, The Discovery of the Germ: Twenty Years that Transformed the Way We Think about Disease (Revolutions in Science), New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 4:
synonyms: word: obtuse
word: purblinded
word: addlebrained
word: addlepated
word: airheaded
word: bee-brained
word: beef-witted
word: beefheaded
word: beetle-headed
word: birdbrained
word: blockheaded
word: Boeotian
word: boneheaded
word: boofheaded
word: brainless
word: bubbleheaded
word: buffle-headed
word: bullet-headed
word: cerebrally challenged
word: childish
word: chowderheaded
word: chuckleheaded
word: crackbrained
word: cretinous
word: dense
word: dented
word: dim-bulb
word: dim-headed
word: dim-witted
word: dim
word: doltish
word: dopey
word: dozy
word: drowsy
word: dull-headed
word: dull-minded
word: dull-witted
word: dull
word: dumber than a box of rocks
word: dumb
word: dunderheaded
word: empty-headed
word: fatheaded
word: feeble-minded
word: flea-brained
word: foolish
word: fuzzy-headed
word: fuzzy-minded
word: half-brained
word: half-witted
word: hammer-headed
word: idiotic
word: imbecilic
word: inane
word: insipid
word: intellectually challenged
word: knuckleheaded
word: lamebrained
word: lowbrow
word: lumpish
word: lunkheaded
word: mentally challenged
word: mentally retarded
word: mindless
word: monosynaptic
word: moronic
word: muttonheaded
word: nitwitted
word: numbskulled
word: oafish
word: obtuse
word: peabrained
word: pratty
word: pudding-headed
word: puerile
word: purblind
word: quarter-witted
word: retarded
word: rockheaded
word: sharp as a bowling ball
word: sheep-headed
word: simple
word: slow-witted
word: slow
word: smooth-brained
word: stolid
word: stupid
word: thick-skulled
word: thickheaded
word: thickwitted
word: thick
word: unapprehensive
word: unclever
word: unintelligent
word: unsmart
word: vacant
word: vacuous
word: witless
word: wooden-headed
word: wool-headed
word: woolly-headed
word: woolly-minded
word: dumb as a bag of hammers
word: dumb as a box of rocks
word: dumb as a doorknob
word: dumb as an ox
word: dumb as a post
word: dumb as a sack of hammers
word: dumb as dirt
word: dumber than a rock
word: not the sharpest crayon in the box
word: not the sharpest knife in the drawer
word: not the sharpest tool in the shed
word: thick as a brick
word: thick as a plank
word: thick as champ
word: thick as mince
word: thick as two short planks
word: thick as a whale omelette
word: ass-brained
word: fuckwitted
word: shit-for-brains
word: thick as pig shit
antonyms: word: brainless
word: dumb
word: foolish
word: idiotic
word: imbecile
word: insensible
word: lowbrow
word: mindless
word: stupid
word: unintelligent
word: witless
glosses: Of a person: lacking in discernment or understanding; dim-witted, unintelligent.
glosses: Of a place: poorly illuminated; dark, dim.
examples: text: 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.
ref: c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: This vvimpled vvhy[n]ing purblind vvayvvard Boy, / This ſignior Iunios gyant dvvarffe, dan Cupid, […]
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: This is a nevv ſalute: / Sure h'as forgot me: this is pur-blinde Cupid.
ref: c. 1619–1621, John Fletcher, “The Island Princesse”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 105, column 1:
glosses: Completely blind.
examples: text: The French haue a good Prouerbe. Entre les auengles, les borgnes ſont les Roys: Among the blinde, the pore blind are the Kings. And thus they vvhich haue no skill in tongues, vvill boldly ſay, that this or that man doth perfectly, and vvithout ſtamering, ſpeake many tongs.
ref: 1617, Fynes Moryson, “Of Precepts for Trauellers, which may Instruct the Vnexperienced”, in An Itinerary Written by Fynes Moryson Gent. […]: Containing His Ten Yeeres Travell through the Twelve Domjnions of Germany, Bohmerland, Sweitzerland, Netherland, Denmarke, Poland, Jtaly, Turky, France, England, Scotland, and Ireland. […], London: […] John Beale, […], →OCLC, book I, part III, pages 15–16:
glosses: Having one eye blind.
examples: text: The man that is pore blinde, cannot ſee far from hym. And as to ioke on deth we be for the moſt part pore blinde all yͭ mayny: for we cannot ſee hym til he cõe [come] very nere vs. But theſe folk be not pore blynde but ſtarke blynde: for they cãnot ſee him when he commeth ſo nere, yͭ hee putteth almoſte his finger in theyr eye.
ref: c. 1522 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatyce (Vnfynyshed) vppon These Wordes of Holye Scrypture, Memorare Nouissima, & Ineternum non Peccabis, Remember the Last Thynges, and Thou shalt Neuer Synne. […]. Of Couertise.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, column 94:
text: 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.
ref: 1631, Francis [Bacon], “IX. Century. [Experiments in Consort Touching the Eyes, and Sight.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 870, page 223:
text: 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.
ref: 1736 February 21 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Elizabeth “Betty” Germain, “From Lady Betty Germain”, in Jonathan Swift, edited by Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 248:
synonyms: word: mope-eyed
glosses: Near-sighted, short-sighted; myopic.
glosses: Far-sighted, long-sighted; hypermetropic.
Derived terms: word: purblinded
word: purblindly
word: purblindness
Related terms: word: moonblind
word: sandblind