English

Adjective

blinder

1. comparative form of blind: more blind
   • 1830, William Pashley, The Voice of Reason in Defence of the Christian Faith

     Ye who arrogate to yourselves that ye see more, or at least are not so blind as others; in your unbelieving conduct, allow me to say, ye are blinder than others; ye are even blinder than the most ignorant and illiterate.

Noun

blinder ‎(plural blinders)

1. Something that blinds.
   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 15,

     As it was, innocence was his blinder.

2. A bag or cloth put over the head of a difficult horse while it is being handled or mounted.
3. A screen attached to a horse's bridle preventing it from being able to see things to its side.
   • 1969, Kenzaburō Ōe, A Personal Matter, translated by John Nathan, New York: Grove Press, Chapter 5, p. 84,

     From both sides of his head a blackness swiftly grew like blinders on a horse and darkly narrowed his field of vision.

   • 1978 Edward Said, Orientalism, New York: Vinatage, 2003, Chapter 3, Part I, p. 207,

     Orientalism itself, furthermore, was an exclusively male province; like so many professional guilds during the modern period, it viewed itself and its subject matter with sexist blinders.

4. (Britain, slang) An exceptional performance.

   He played a blinder this afternoon on the cricket ground.

   • 1992, Glyn Maxwell, "Out of the Rain" in Boys at Twilight: Poems 1990 to 1995, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, p. 91,

     And we asked the blue winger, who in our game / had played what they call a blinder, to help out

5. (slang) A bout of heavy drinking, a bender.
   • 1985, John Maxton, Hansard, 2 May, 1985,

     If a man goes out on a blinder, he might be charged with being drunk and incapable and therefore have a criminal record, although he is an honourable man.

Synonyms

• (horse's blindfold): blinker, winkers
• (exceptional performance): cracker

Translations

Verb

blinder ‎(third-person singular simple present blinders, present participle blindering, simple past and past participle blindered)

1. To fit (a horse) with blinders; to obstruct the vision of.
   • 1958, Sylvia Plath, "Above the Oxbow" in The Collected Poems, New York: Harper & Row, p. 88,

     […] We climb in hopes / Of such seeing up the leaf-shuttered escarpments, / Blindered by green, under a green-grained sky

   • 1986, Tessa Albert Warschaw, Rich is Better: How Women Can Bridge the Gap Between Wanting and Having It All — Financially, Emotionally, Professionally, Penguin, p. 248,

     They think they're being focussed when they're really just blindering their eyes, as a farmer would a plough horse, to ways of getting to their goal faster.

Anagrams

• brindle

French

Etymology

From blinde +‎ -er.

Verb

blinder

1. to armor; to reinforce

Conjugation

Derived terms

• blindage

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblɪndɐ/

Adjective

blinder

1. comparative degree of blind

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse blinder, from Proto-Germanic *blindaz.

Adjective

blinder

1. blind
2. invisible, obscure

Declension

Descendants

• Swedish: blind