blindfold

Etymology

It is formed from English blind + fell (“to strike down”),^[2][3][4][5] first as inherited from Middle English blindfellen (“to strike blind, to blindfold”),^[6][3] with an isolated prefixed form in Old English, geblindfellan.^[2][7][4] The verb was used mostly in the past participle blindfeld, and in the second half of the 15th century the -d of that form was taken for part of the stem.^[2][3][5] The vowel of the second element then changed, to -i- and then, from the second quarter of the 16th century, to -o-.^[2] Most dictionaries explain the -o- by association with fold, from the folding of a band of cloth over the eyes,^{[3][7][8][9][5]} and Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it a folk etymology.^[10] The revised OED finds the reasons for the changes unclear, and points out that the -o- forms were the only current type by the end of the 16th century, well before the noun is recorded for a piece of cloth.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cover a person's eyes so that the person cannot see: the Old English prefixed form has this sense, in Ælfric's summary of Esther.^[2] The simple verb appears before 1225 in Vices and Virtues, of Christ's eyes being covered,^[2][6] and also in the Ancrene Riwle, which Barnhart dates probably before 1200.^[7][6] Etymonline gives about 1200 for the verb.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Literally the verb meant to strike blind, and the Middle English Dictionary has that sense from before 1400 beside "to cover the eyes".^[6][2] The striking sense soon died out, while the covering sense survived the change of form.^[2] A figurative use, to obstruct someone's understanding or to deceive, is found from about 1425,^[2][6] and the past participle, turned into an adjective, meant deceived or misled from about the same time.^[2] From this came "reckless, heedless" (1593, in Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective simply as having the eyes covered.^[11] The noun came late and also began with the figurative side: trickery in 1643 and an obstacle to understanding in 1674, then a piece of cloth over the eyes in 1715.^[2][10] Barnhart and Etymonline date the noun only to 1880, Barnhart citing Ben Hur;^[7][3] Etymonline notes the earlier blindfolder in the sense of the cloth.^[3] In chess the adverb is recorded from 1553 and the adjective from 1795, for play without sight of the board.^[2] American slang of the 20th century has blindfold a pair, an order to fry two eggs on both sides.^[12]

Timeline

• before 1225 – to cover a person's eyes, as blindfallede, in Vices and Virtues.^[2][6]
• before 1400 – to strike blind (obsolete by 1440).^[2][6]
• c. 1425 – to obstruct the understanding of, to deceive.^[2]
• 1440 – adjective, with the eyes covered.^[2]
• 1526 – the modern spelling, in Tyndale's translation of the Bible.^[7][10]
• 1528 – adverb, with the eyes covered.^[2]
• 1553 – adverb, in chess, without sight of the board.^[2]
• 1593 – adjective, reckless or rash.^[2]
• 1643 – noun, trickery or deception (obsolete).^[2]
• 1674 – noun, an obstacle to understanding.^[2]
• 1715 – noun, a piece of cloth tied over the eyes.^[2][10]
• 1795 – adjective, in chess, of a game played without sight of the board.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cover the eyes of a person or animal, especially with a bandage or a band of cloth: The kidnappers blindfolded the driver.^[10][13][2]
2. To keep someone from understanding or judging correctly; to delude.^[13][10][2]
3. (obsolete, before 1400 to 1440) To strike blind.^[2][6]

Noun

1. A piece of cloth or a bandage used to cover the eyes.^[13][10][2]
2. Something that obscures vision or judgement.^[10][2][13]

Adjective

1. With the eyes covered.^[13][2]
2. (chess) Played, or playing, without sight of the board or pieces.^[13][2][14]
3. Heedless of the consequences; reckless.^[2][14]

Adverb

1. With the eyes covered.^[13][2]
2. Without effort or without looking, usually after can: She could find that shop blindfold.^[2]
3. Without knowledge or foresight; heedlessly.^[2][14]

Word family

• blindfolded
• blindfolder
• unblindfold

Related words

• blind
• fell
• fold

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press