[f. BLIND a. + -NESS.]
1. Blind condition; want of sight.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Deut. xxviii. 28. Sende þe Drihten on … blindnysse, þæt þu gropie on midne dæʓ.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20957. A jugelur wit blindnes he [Paul] smat.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. xxiv. (1495), 213. Blyndenesse is pryuacyon of syghte.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 40. Blyndnesse, cecitas.
1611. Bible, Deut. xxviii. 28. The Lord shall smite thee with madnesse and blindnesse.
1671. Milton, Samson, 196. That which was the worst now least afflicts me, Blindness.
1859. Masson, Milton, I. 717. Galileo’s blindness had become total.
2. fig. Want of intellectual or moral perception; delusion, ignorance; folly, recklessness.
971. Blickl. Hom., 23. Þæt we onʓyton þa blindnesse ure ælþeodiʓnesse.
a. 1340. Hampole, Prose Tr. (1866), 19. A nakede mynde … of Ihesu … withowtten lyghte of knawynge in resoune, es bot a blyndnes.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 243 b. Tempestes of desperacyon or blyndnes of mynde.
1611. Bible, Rom. xi. 25. Blindnesse in part is happened to Israel.
1796. Bp. Watson, Apol. Bible, 209. The blindness of your rage.
1837. Dickens, Pickw. (1847), Pref. 11. A host of petty jealousies, blindnesses, and prejudices.
† 3. transf. Concealment. Obs. rare.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 8. Muffle your false loue with some shew of blindnesse.
