An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language
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Chapter 87 : _Chron. S. Poet._ BLIND HARIE, Blind man's buff, S. _Belly-blind_, synon._Herd._ I
_Chron. S. Poet._
BLIND HARIE, Blind man's buff, S. _Belly-blind_, synon.
_Herd._
In the Scandinavian _Julbock_, from which this sport seems to have originated, the princ.i.p.al actor was disguised in the skin of a _buck_ or _goat_. The name _Blind Harie_ might therefore arise from his rough attire; as he was called _blind_, in consequence of being blindfolded.
Or it may signify, _Blind Master_, or _Lord_, in ironical language.
V. ~Herie~.
BLIND MAN'S BALL, or _Devil's snuff-box_, Common puff-ball, S. V. Flor.
Suec.
_Lightfoot._
It is also called _Blind man's een_, i. e. eyes, S. B. An idea, according to Linn., prevails throughout the whole of Sweden, that the dust of this plant causes _blindness_.
BLYNDIT, _pret._ Blended.
_Gawan and Gol._
BLINDLINS, BLYNDLINGIS, _adv._ Having the eyes closed, hoodwinked. It denotes the state of one who does any thing as if he were blind, S.
V. ~Lingis~ Germ. Dan. _blindlings_, id.
_Douglas._
BLINDS, _s. pl._ The Pogge, or Miller's Thumb, a fish, _Cottus Cataphractus_, Linn. West of S.
_Statist. Acc._
Perhaps it receives this name, because its eyes are very small.
To BLINK, _v. n._
1. To become a little sour; a term used with respect to milk or beer, S.
_Bleeze_, synon.
_Chr. Kirk._
2. To be _blinkit_, to be half drunk, Fife.
Su. G. _blaenk-a_, Germ. _blink-en_, coruscare, to s.h.i.+ne, to flash, to lighten; q. struck with lightning, which, we know, has the effect of making liquids sour; or as denoting that of suns.h.i.+ne, or of the heat of the weather.
BLINNYNG, _part. pr._ Leg. _Blumyng_.
_Maitland Poems._
BLYPE, _s._ A coat, a shred; applied to the skin, which is said to come off _in blypes_, when it _peels_ in coats, or is rubbed off, in shreds; S.
_Burns._
Perhaps radically the same with _Flype_, q. v. or a different p.r.o.n.
of _Bleib_.
_To_ BLIRT, _v. n._ To make a noise in weeping, to cry. It is generally joined with _Greet_. To _blirt and greet_, i. e. to burst out a-crying, S.
_Kelly._
Germ. _blaerr-en_, _plarr-en_, mugire, rugire. Perhaps E. _blurt_ is also radically allied.
BLIRT, _s._ The action expressed by the v. "A _blirt_ of greeting," a violent burst of tears, accompanied with crying, S. B.
To BLITHE, BLYTHE, _v. a._ To make glad.
_Wallace._
A. S. _bliths-ian_, laetari; Alem. _blid-en_, gaudere. But perhaps our v. is immediately formed from the adj.
BLITHEMEAT, _s._ The meat distributed among those who are present at the birth of a child, or among the rest of the family, S. p.r.o.nounced _blyidmeat_, Ang. as the adj. itself, _blyd_, _blyid_.
I need not say, that this word has its origin from the _happiness_ occasioned by a safe delivery.
BLYVARE. Perhaps for _Blyther_, more cheerful.
_Houlate._
BLYWEST, _adj._ in the superl.
_Houlate._
"Blythest, most merry," Gl. Perhaps it rather refers to colour; q.
the palest.