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blur

Pronunciation: /ˈblɜː/

The English word “blur” has 12 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To make indistinct or hazy, to obscure or dim.
  2. To smear, stain or smudge.
  3. To become indistinct.
  4. To cause imperfection of vision in; to dim; to darken.
  5. To sully; to stain; to blemish, as reputation.
  6. To transfer the input focus away from.
  7. To use a sign, image, expression, etc. sufficiently close to a trademarked one that it causes confusion between them.

noun

  1. A smear, smudge or blot.
  2. Something that appears hazy or indistinct.
  3. Haziness, blurriness.
  4. A moral stain or blot.

adjective

  1. Lacking awareness; clueless or confused.

Etymology

From earlier blurre, probably an alteration of blear, from Middle English bleren, from Old English *blerian (attested in āblered (“made bare, made bald”)), from Proto-West Germanic *blaʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *blazjaną (“to make pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“pale”). Compare Scots blore, bloar (“to blur, cover with blots”), Low German bleeroged (“blear-eyed”). More at blear.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.