blighty

[ blahy-tee ]

noun,plural blight·ies.British Slang.
  1. Often Blighty . Britain, or specifically England, as one's home or native land: We're sailing for old Blighty tomorrow.

  2. a wound or furlough permitting a soldier to be sent back to Britain from the front.

  1. military leave.

Origin of blighty

1
First recorded in 1885–90; from Hindi bilāyatī “the country (i.e., Great Britain),” variant of wilāyatī vilayet

Words Nearby blighty

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use blighty in a sentence

  • Our right section commander got a blighty two days ago and is probably now in England.

    Carry On | Coningsby Dawson
  • Everywhere we looked there were crowds of them; we thought there were a lot in blighty, but there seemed to be nothing else here.

    Into the Jaws of Death | Jack O'Brien
  • Shortly after this we had several casualties in Platoon 10—two or three were killed, and several wounded and got their "blighty."

    Into the Jaws of Death | Jack O'Brien

British Dictionary definitions for blighty (1 of 2)

blighty

blighty bird

/ (ˈblaɪtɪ) /


noun
  1. NZ another name for white-eye

British Dictionary definitions for Blighty (2 of 2)

Blighty

/ (ˈblaɪtɪ) /


noun(sometimes not capital) British slang (used esp by troops serving abroad)
  1. England; home

  2. (esp in World War I)

    • Also called: a blighty one a slight wound that causes the recipient to be sent home to England

    • leave in England

Origin of Blighty

2
C20: from Hindi bilāyatī foreign land, England, from Arabic wilāyat country, from waliya he rules

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012