blinker
Americannoun
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a device for flashing light signals.
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a light that flashes intermittently, especially one that serves as a traffic signal.
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either of two leather flaps on a bridle, to prevent a horse from seeing sideways; a blinder.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a flashing light for sending messages, as a warning device, etc, such as a direction indicator on a road vehicle
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(often plural) a slang word for eye 1
verb
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to provide (a horse) with blinkers
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to obscure with or as if with blinkers
Etymology
Origin of blinker
Explanation
Any flashing light can be called a blinker, but it usually refers to the turn signal on a car. Before you suddenly turn left, be sure to put your blinker on. A light that blinks on and off is a blinker, and it may be used to signal your plans to change direction in a car, or to send some kind of signal. Another meaning of the word is "blinder," a kind of eye patch that's used in horse racing to block the horse's peripheral vision so it won't get distracted. To blinker a horse is to attach blinkers to its harness.
Vocabulary lists containing blinker
Unit 4, Week 1
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The Black Stallion
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Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Blinker lights sparkled from bridges, and on the Valley Forge, pilots scurried to briefing rooms, helicopter crews climbed into their whirlybirds.
From Time Magazine Archive
“And yet,” she said, as though we had been discussing the subject, “what do doctors know? Dr. Blinker prescribed this tonic—but what can medicine really do? What good does anything do when one’s Day arrives?”
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
At first Blinker feels entirely out of his element, but Florence shows him the spirit in which to accept the tinsel and the rude fun-making.
From Writing the Photoplay by Esenwein, J. Berg (Joseph Berg)
She gave up all idea of trading with Blinker.
From A House Party with the Tucker Twins by Speed, Nell
Good comedy to get some people coming down a slide, with Blinker and Florence among them.
From Writing the Photoplay by Esenwein, J. Berg (Joseph Berg)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
