1.
[syn: blind alley, cul de sac, dead-end street, impasse]
2. (figurative) a course of action that is unproductive and offers no hope of improvement;
- Example: "all the clues led the police into blind alleys"
- Example: "so far every road that we've been down has turned out to be a blind alley"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Blind \Blind\, a. [AS.; akin to D., G., OS., Sw., & Dan. blind,
Icel. blindr, Goth. blinds; of uncertain origin.]
1. Destitute of the sense of seeing, either by natural defect
or by deprivation; without sight.
[1913 Webster]
He that is strucken blind can not forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Not having the faculty of discernment; destitute of
intellectual light; unable or unwilling to understand or
judge; as, authors are blind to their own defects.
[1913 Webster]
But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
3. Undiscerning; undiscriminating; inconsiderate.
[1913 Webster]
This plan is recommended neither to blind
approbation nor to blind reprobation. --Jay.
[1913 Webster]
4. Having such a state or condition as a thing would have to
a person who is blind; not well marked or easily
discernible; hidden; unseen; concealed; as, a blind path;
a blind ditch.
[1913 Webster]
5. Involved; intricate; not easily followed or traced.
[1913 Webster]
The blind mazes of this tangled wood. --Milton.
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6. Having no openings for light or passage; as, a blind wall;
open only at one end; as, a blind alley; a blind gut.
[1913 Webster]
7. Unintelligible, or not easily intelligible; as, a blind
passage in a book; illegible; as, blind writing.
[1913 Webster]
8. (Hort.) Abortive; failing to produce flowers or fruit; as,
blind buds; blind flowers.
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Blind alley, an alley closed at one end; a cul-de-sac.
Blind axle, an axle which turns but does not communicate
motion. --Knight.
Blind beetle, one of the insects apt to fly against people,
esp. at night.
Blind cat (Zool.), a species of catfish (Gronias
nigrolabris), nearly destitute of eyes, living in caverns
in Pennsylvania.
Blind coal, coal that burns without flame; anthracite coal.
--Simmonds.
Blind door, Blind window, an imitation of a door or
window, without an opening for passage or light. See
Blank door or Blank window, under Blank, a.
Blind level (Mining), a level or drainage gallery which has
a vertical shaft at each end, and acts as an inverted
siphon. --Knight.
Blind nettle (Bot.), dead nettle. See Dead nettle, under
Dead.
Blind shell (Gunnery), a shell containing no charge, or one
that does not explode.
Blind side, the side which is most easily assailed; a weak
or unguarded side; the side on which one is least able or
disposed to see danger. --Swift.
Blind snake (Zool.), a small, harmless, burrowing snake, of
the family Typhlopid[ae], with rudimentary eyes.
Blind spot (Anat.), the point in the retina of the eye
where the optic nerve enters, and which is insensible to
light.
Blind tooling, in bookbinding and leather work, the
indented impression of heated tools, without gilding; --
called also blank tooling, and blind blocking.
Blind wall, a wall without an opening; a blank wall.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
blind alley
n 1: a street with only one way in or out [syn: blind alley,
cul de sac, dead-end street, impasse]
2: (figurative) a course of action that is unproductive and
offers no hope of improvement; "all the clues led the police
into blind alleys"; "so far every road that we've been down
has turned out to be a blind alley"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
115 Moby Thesaurus words for "blind alley":
Autobahn, US highway, alley, alleyway, arterial, arterial highway,
arterial street, artery, autoroute, autostrada, avenue, bar,
barrier, belt highway, blank wall, blind gut, block, blockade,
blockage, bottleneck, boulevard, box, bypass, byway, camino real,
carriageway, causeway, causey, cecum, chaussee, choking,
choking off, circumferential, clog, close, congestion,
constipation, corduroy road, corner, costiveness, county road,
court, crescent, cul-de-sac, dead end, dead-end street, deadlock,
dike, dirt road, drive, driveway, embolism, embolus, expressway,
extremity, freeway, gorge, gravel road, halt, highroad, highway,
highways and byways, hole, impasse, impediment, infarct,
infarction, interstate highway, jam, lane, local road, main drag,
main road, mews, motorway, obstacle, obstipation, obstruction,
parkway, pave, paved road, pike, place, plank road, pocket,
primary highway, private road, right-of-way, ring road, road,
roadbed, roadway, route nationale, row, royal road, sealing off,
secondary road, speedway, stalemate, stand, standstill,
state highway, stop, stoppage, strangulation, street, superhighway,
terrace, thoroughfare, through street, thruway, toll road,
township road, turnpike, wynd