a. and sb. Forms: 5 blounde, 7– blonde, 8– blond. [a. F. blond, blonde yellow-haired, ‘a colour midway between golden and light chestnut’ (Littré), = Sp. blondo, It. biondo:—med.L. blondus, blundus yellow (explained in a passage quoted by Du Cange ‘flavus qui vulgo dicitur blondus’). Origin uncertain: see Diez and Littré. In English used by Caxton (in form blounde); reintroduced from mod.Fr. in 17th c., and still so far treated as French, as to be usually written with final e when applied to a woman, esp. substantively, a blonde; otherwise commonly written blond like the Fr. masculine.
Cf. OE. blanden-feax, blonden-feax having mixed or grizzly hair, grey-haired, old; also beblonden, given in Bosworth as ‘dyed,’ both from blondan to mix, BLAND v. Hence Du Cange, s.v. Blundus, conjectures the original sense to be ‘dyed,’ the ancient Germans being accustomed to dye the hair yellow.]
A. adj. Properly (of the hair): Of a light golden brown, light auburn; but commonly used in sense of light-colored, ‘fair,’ as opposed to ‘dark,’ or ‘brunette,’ and extended to the complexion of those who have hair of this color.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., II. xvii. 103. The rayes of the sonne make the heer of a man abourne or blounde. Ibid. (1484), Ryall Bk., O v. They arraye theyr heer lyke wymmen and force it to be yelowe, and yf they be blacke, they by crafte make them blounde and abourne.
1683. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 192. Prince George of Denmark … had the Danish countenance, blonde.
1798. Life Cath. II. (ed. 2), I. iv. 426. Ivan was full six feet high, with a fine blond head of hair.
1834. Campbell, Life Mrs. Siddons, II. ii. 55. A delicate and blonde beauty.
1860. Geo. Eliot, Mill on Fl., V. iv. 306. If the blond girl were forsaken.
b. of flowers. poet.
c. 1865. M. Arnold, Thyrsis, xiii. Red loosestrife and blond meadow-sweet.
c. Blond(e lace: see B 2.
1772. Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 84. I missed three quarters of blond lace.
c. 1840. Lady Blessington, Sk. & Fragm., in Casquet Lit. (1877), I. 216/2. Wore my new Parisian robe of blonde lace.
d. Comb., as blonde-complexioned, -locked, adjs.; blond-metal, a variety of clay ironstone of the coal measures.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metals, I. 33. In the neighbourhood of Wednesbury is dug that peculiar species of iron ore called blond metal.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. xi. 73. That little blonde-locked too hasty Dauphin.
c. 1880. Grant Allen, Anglo-Sax. Brit., 56. We know that the pure Anglo-Saxons were a … blonde-complexioned race.
B. sb.
1. A person with blond hair; one with light or ‘fair’ hair and the corresponding complexion; esp. a woman, in which case spelt blonde.
1822. Edin. Rev., 199. Brenda, the laughing blue-eyed blonde.
1833. Penny Cycl., s.v. Albinos, The blonds of the European race.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., 212. Negative or washed blondes, arrested by Nature on the way to become albinesses.
2. (More fully blonde lace): A silk lace of two threads, twisted and formed in hexagonal meshes; orig. of the color of raw silk, but now white or black: see quot. 1882. Now usually written blonde, as always in Fr. (sc. dentelle).
c. 1755. Mrs. Delany, in Harper’s Mag. (1884), July, 260/1. A French cap … of blond.
1760. Lond. Mag., XXIX. 389. Raving about gauze, Blon, Brussels, and ruffles.
1766. Anstey, Bath Guide, iii. 87. Fringes, Blonds, and Mignionets.
1828. Moore, Prop. Gynæocr., Wks. (1862), 549. Burdetts in blonde, and Broughams in bustles.
1882. Beck, Draper’s Dict., s.v., Blonde laces were first made in 1745, and being produced from unbleached silk, were known as ‘Nankins’ or ‘Blondes.’
b. attrib. Of blonde.
1816. Scott, Antiq., vi. Triple blond ruffles.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. I. viii. 78. Beautifullest blonde-dresses and broadcloth coats.
