purblind

Definition

Of a person: having impaired vision; partially blind; dim-sighted.

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”)). 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.

Example Sentences

• "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."
• "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: […]"
• "[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."