blear

• POS: Adjective, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

blear, a. [See Blear, v.].

•  Dim or sore with water or rheum; -- said of the eyes.  [1913 Webster]

  "His blear eyes ran in gutters to his chin."  [1913 Webster]
•  Causing or caused by dimness of sight; dim.  [1913 Webster]

  "Power to cheat the eye with blear illusion."  [1913 Webster]

blear, v. t. [OE. bleren; cf. Dan. plire to blink, Sw. plira to twinkle, wink, LG. plieren; perh. from the same root as E. blink. See Blink, and cf. Blur.].

 To make somewhat sore or watery, as the eyes; to dim, or blur, as the sight. Figuratively: To obscure (mental or moral perception); to blind; to hoodwink.  [1913 Webster]
"That tickling rheums
Should ever tease the lungs and blear the sight."  [1913 Webster]

To blear the eye of, to deceive; to impose upon. [Obs.] Chaucer.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

blear, adj. & v. archaic
--adj.
1 (of the eyes or the mind) dim, dull, filmy.
2 indistinct.
--v.tr. make dim or obscure; blur.

Etymology

ME, of uncert. orig.

ROGET THESAURUS

blear

Dimness

N dimness, darkness, paleness, half light, demi-jour, partial shadow, partial eclipse, shadow of a shade, glimmer, gliming, nebulosity, cloud, eclipse, aurora, dusk, twilight, shades of evening, crepuscule, cockshut time, break of day, daybreak, dawn, moonlight, moonbeam, moonglade, moonshine, starlight, owl's light, candlelight, rushlight, firelight, farthing candle, dim, dull, lackluster, dingy, darkish, shorn of its beams, dark, faint, shadowed forth, glassy, cloudy, misty, blear, muggy, fuliginous, nebulous, nebular, obnubilated, overcast, crepuscular, muddy, lurid, leaden, dun, dirty, looming, pale, confused.