Blind beggars are frequently mentioned (Matthew 9:27; 12:22; 20:30; John 5:3). The blind are to be treated with compassion (Leviticus 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:18). Blindness was sometimes a punishment for disobedience (1 Samuel 11:2; Jeremiah 39:7), sometimes the effect of old age (Genesis 27:1; 1 Kings 14:4; 1 Samuel 4:15). Conquerors sometimes blinded their captives (2 Kings 25:7; 1 Samuel 11:2). Blindness denotes ignorance as to spiritual things (Isaiah 6:10; 42:18, 19; Matthew 15:14; Ephesians 4:18). The opening of the eyes of the blind is peculiar to the Messiah (Isaiah 29:18). Elymas was smitten with blindness at Paul's word (Acts 13:11).

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (a.) Destitute of the sense of seeing, either by natural defect or by deprivation; without sight.

2. (a.) 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.

3. (a.) Undiscerning; undiscriminating; inconsiderate.

4. (a.) 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.

5. (a.) Involved; intricate; not easily followed or traced.

6. (a.) Having no openings for light or passage; as, a blind wall; open only at one end; as, a blind alley; a blind gut.

7. (a.) Unintelligible, or not easily intelligible; as, a blind passage in a book; illegible; as, blind writing.

8. (a.) Abortive; failing to produce flowers or fruit; as, blind buds; blind flowers.

9. (v. t.) To make blind; to deprive of sight or discernment.

10. (v. t.) To deprive partially of vision; to make vision difficult for and painful to; to dazzle.

11. (v. t.) To darken; to obscure to the eye or understanding; to conceal; to deceive.

12. (v. t.) To cover with a thin coating of sand and fine gravel; as a road newly paved, in order that the joints between the stones may be filled.

13. (n.) Something to hinder sight or keep out light; a screen; a cover; esp. a hinged screen or shutter for a window; a blinder for a horse.

14. (n.) Something to mislead the eye or the understanding, or to conceal some covert deed or design; a subterfuge.

15. (n.) A blindage. See Blindage.

16. (n.) A halting place.

17. (n.) Alt. of Blinde