blear means dim; unclear from water or rheum. It carries an Arena rating of 1670, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, blear ranks #343 of 13,217 for Most Malleable Words, #614 of 13,217 for Most Ingenious Words, #947 of 13,217 for Most Exacting Words, #2,317 of 13,217 for Most Vivid Words.
blear is pronounced /blɪə/.
Why “blear” is a great word
Dim, unclear, or watery, especially of the eyes or vision. From Middle English *blere* (adjective and verb), related to Middle High German *blerre* (“double vision”) and Low German *bleeroged* (“bleareyed”); perhaps related to *blur*. Unlike “blur,” which smears any outline, or “rheumy,” which names the physical discharge, *blear* is the specific, weary haze of sight itself becoming a milky pane. It is the view from a sickbed at dawn, the gas lamps dissolving into haloes on a tear-streaked street, the world seen through a veil of exhaustion or grief—a quiet failure of the window of the soul.
Etymology
From Middle English blere, related to Low German bleeroged (“bleareyed”), Middle High German blerre (“double vision”), German Blerre (“double vision”). Perhaps also related to blur.
adj
- Dim; unclear from water or rheum.“A Promontory Wen, with grieſly grace,
Stood high, upon the Handle of his Face:
His blear Eyes ran in gutters to his Chin:
His Beard was stubble, and his Cheeks were thin.”
- Causing or caused by dimness of sight.“Thus I hurle
My dazling spells into the ſpungie aire
Of power to cheate the eye with bleare illuſion,
And give it falſe preſentments, […]”
verb
- To be blear; to have blear eyes; to look or gaze with blear eyes.“18th c., attributed to Jonathan Swift, “The Story of Orpheus, Burlesqued,” in Walter Scott (ed.), The Works of Jonathan Swift, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 2nd edition, 1883, Volume 10, p. 403,
Orpheus, a one-eyed blearing Thracian,
The crowder of that barb’rous nation,
Was ballad-singer by vocation;”
- To make (usually the eyes or eyesight) blurred or dim.“your ſelf you cannot ſo diſguiſe:”
- To blur, make blurry.“When winter blears bleakly the forest,
And the water binds gray to its blue,
Safe and sound in her covert I leave her,
Till spring calls again my canoe.”
Words closest in meaning
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