purblind
purblind (PUR-blaind) - adj., having poor vision, nearly or partially blind; slow in understanding or discernment.
Originally, in the late 1200s when it was two words, pur blind, it meant completely blind, but by the mid-1400s the meaning had shifted to partial (compare the confusion over the meaning of the first part of parboil). The pur- part might originally have been a version of pure or it might have been the Anglo-Norman perfective prefix pur-.
---L.
Originally, in the late 1200s when it was two words, pur blind, it meant completely blind, but by the mid-1400s the meaning had shifted to partial (compare the confusion over the meaning of the first part of parboil). The pur- part might originally have been a version of pure or it might have been the Anglo-Norman perfective prefix pur-.
---L.