purblind

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   lacking insight, understanding, or the ability to foresee consequences

   Only a purblind observer could ignore the danger directly ahead.

2. 2
   adj

   partly blind or having greatly impaired vision; now literary or archaic

   The purblind old scholar held the page close to the lamp.

From Middle English pur blind, literally "wholly blind," with pur from pure used adverbially to mean "completely." The visual sense later weakened to partial blindness, while a figurative sense developed for limited insight or understanding.

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