Blyndefolde

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Definitions

1. Having the eyes covered with a cloth so that one is unable to see anything
2. Deprived of sight by a cloth tied over the eyes, as in an old or archaic usage
3. Made unable to see because a band or cloth has been fastened across the eyes

Etymology: Middle English "blindfold" began life as "blindfelled" or "blindfeld," a compound meaning "struck blind" or "felled while blind." The second element is "fold," from Old English "fellan," meaning "to fell" or knock down, so the earliest sense was closer to being struck down than to being covered. Over time the verb's sense shifted: a person who was "blindfelled" was one who had been knocked over or stunned, and the word drifted toward the idea of having the eyes covered, the meaning it carries today. The word is also an example of a compound whose parts have drifted apart in English. "Fell" in the sense of "to strike down" is now largely lost outside this word, so modern speakers hear "fold" and think of folding a cloth, which is a folk reading rather than the real history. The sense of covering the eyes with a cloth emerged as the word settled into use, and the element "fold" in the modern spelling is an alteration of the older "fell."