blinding

• IPA^(key): /ˈblaɪndɪŋ/

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• Rhymes: -aɪndɪŋ

blinding

1. present participle and gerund of blind

blinding (comparative more blinding, superlative most blinding)

1. Very bright (as if to cause blindness).
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     On it came, and with it came the glorious blinding cloud of many-coloured light, and stood before us for a space, turning, as it seemed to us, slowly round and round, and then, accompanied by its attendant pomp of sound, passed away I know not whither.

2. Making blind or as if blind; depriving of sight or of understanding.

   blinding tears;  blinding snow

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC:

     Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

3. (UK, slang) Brilliant; marvellous.

   "How's it going?"  "Blinding, mate."

blinding (comparative more blinding, superlative most blinding)

1. (nonstandard) To an extreme degree; blindingly.
   • 1983, Régis Debray, Critique of Political Reason, page 6:

     certain 'details' of 'scientifically realized socialism' became blinding obvious

   • 1997, Steven Barnes, Blood Brothers, page 190:

     He made the basket on his second attempt, after an exchange of moves so blinding fast that Derek could barely distinguish them.

   • 2003, Sally Prue, The Devil's Toenail, page 139:

     I was in a nightmare, and everything was blinding bright, inky black, blinding bright; and fading, and fading

   • 2005 February 8, “The greatest show on earth”, in Guardian Unlimited:

     It's the blinding obvious fact that American football is the real-life equivalent of Quidditch. Or maybe Fireball - the game invented by Joey and Chandler

   • 2006 November 28, “Converged networks lack adequate business tools”, in Inquirer:

     WHILST IT'S blinding obvious that converged networks are the way to go, it's also apparent that C21 [21st Century] networks won't get rapidly rolled out

   • 2007 May 24, “US Note Yields Near 4-Month High Before Durable Goods Report”, in Bloomberg:

     Roger Yates, chief executive officer of Henderson Group Plc in London, which oversees about $125 billion said Greenspan's remarks were "blinding obvious".

blinding (plural blindings)

1. The act of causing blindness.
2. A thin coat of sand or gravel used to fill holes in a new road surface.
3. A thin sprinkling of sand or chippings laid on a newly tarred surface.

• effing and blinding