Part 694

6. Having no openings for light or passage; as, a blind wall; open only at one end; as, a blind alley; a blind gut.

7. Unintelligible, or not easily intelligible; as, a blind passage in a book; illegible; as, blind writing.

8. (Hort.) Abortive; failing to produce flowers or fruit; as, blind buds; blind flowers.

Blind alley, an alley closed at one end; a cul- de-sac. -- Blind axle, an axle which turns but does not communicate motion. Knight. -- Blind beetle, one of the insects apt to fly against people, esp. at night. -- Blind cat (Zoöl.), a species of catfish (Gronias nigrolabris), nearly destitute of eyes, living in caverns in Pennsylvania. -- Blind coal, coal that burns without flame; anthracite coal. Simmonds. - - Blind door, Blind window, an imitation of a door or window, without an opening for passage or light. See Blank door or window, under Blank, a. -- Blind level (Mining), a level or drainage gallery which has a vertical shaft at each end, and acts as an inverted siphon. Knight. -- Blind nettle (Bot.), dead nettle. See Dead nettle, under Dead. -- Blind shell (Gunnery), a shell containing no charge, or one that does not explode. -- Blind side, the side which is most easily assailed; a weak or unguarded side; the side on which one is least able or disposed to see danger. Swift. -- Blind snake (Zoöl.), a small, harmless, burrowing snake, of the family Typhlopidæ, with rudimentary eyes. -- Blind spot (Anat.), the point in the retina of the eye where the optic nerve enters, and which is insensible to light. -- Blind tooling, in bookbinding and leather work, the indented impression of heated tools, without gilding; -- called also blank tooling, and blind blocking. -- Blind wall, a wall without an opening; a blank wall.

Blind (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blinded; p. pr. & vb. n. Blinding.] 1. To make blind; to deprive of sight or discernment. "To blind the truth and me." Tennyson.

A blind guide is certainly a great mischief; but a guide that blinds those whom he should lead is . . . a much greater. South.

2. To deprive partially of vision; to make vision difficult for and painful to; to dazzle.

Her beauty all the rest did blind. P. Fletcher.

3. To darken; to obscure to the eye or understanding; to conceal; to deceive.

Such darkness blinds the sky. Dryden.

The state of the controversy between us he endeavored, with all his art, to blind and confound. Stillingfleet.

4. To cover with a thin coating of sand and fine gravel; as a road newly paved, in order that the joints between the stones may be filled.

Blind (&?;), n. 1. Something to hinder sight or keep out light; a screen; a cover; esp. a hinged screen or shutter for a window; a blinder for a horse.

2. Something to mislead the eye or the understanding, or to conceal some covert deed or design; a subterfuge.

3. [Cf. F. blindes, p&?;., fr. G. blende, fr. blenden to blind, fr. blind blind.] (Mil.) A blindage. See Blindage.

4. A halting place. [Obs.] Dryden.

{ Blind, Blinde } (&?;), n. See Blende.

Blind"age (&?;), n. [Cf. F. blindage.] (Mil.) A cover or protection for an advanced trench or approach, formed of fascines and earth supported by a framework.

Blind"er (&?;), n. 1. One who, or that which, blinds.

2. (Saddlery) One of the leather screens on a bridle, to hinder a horse from seeing objects at the side; a blinker.

Blind"fish` (&?;), n. A small fish (Amblyopsis spelæus) destitute of eyes, found in the waters of the Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. Related fishes from other caves take the same name.

Blind"fold` (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blindfolded; p. pr. & vb. n. Blindfolding.] [OE. blindfolden, blindfelden, blindfellen; AS. blind blind + prob. fellan, fyllan, to fell, strike down.] To cover the eyes of, as with a bandage; to hinder from seeing.

And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face. Luke xxii. 64.

Blind"fold`, a. Having the eyes covered; blinded; having the mental eye darkened. Hence: Heedless; reckless; as, blindfold zeal; blindfold fury.

Fate's blindfold reign the atheist loudly owns. Dryden.

Blind"ing, a. Making blind or as if blind; depriving of sight or of understanding; obscuring; as, blinding tears; blinding snow.

Blind"ing, n. A thin coating of sand and fine gravel over a newly paved road. See Blind, v. t., 4.

Blind"ly, adv. Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.