blinker
Americannoun
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a device for flashing light signals.
-
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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
“The ships don’t just turn on their left-hand blinker and make a left turn back to Los Angeles. It takes a little bit of work,” Seroka said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2023
Image: Blue Tiger I also spotted this upcoming POC Omne Eternal bike helmet, which uses the cells to power a flashing rear safety blinker.
From The Verge ● Aug. 17, 2022
They are tools to awe and blinker, to intimidate and cow, with displays of superiority.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 28, 2022
The suit alleged that Harper slowed down, activated her blinker and emergency lights and was looking for a safe place to pull over after trooper Rodney Dunn initiated a traffic stop in July 2020.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 19, 2021
He ignored Fadi, turned on his blinker, and merged with traffic exiting the airport.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
Hoping to improve Chief Wallabee’s focus, Mott will have the colt race in blinkers for the first time in the Derby.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
But even he has blinkers on: Yes, 1975 might have been a great, great time in New York, despite garbage strikes, crime rates and municipal bankruptcy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
"I trimmed down my team too as I was moving at 100mph with the blinkers on. It has taken a bit of time but now I'm here."
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025
Your concern, as your friend doesn’t grasp, is not just for those wrongs but for the moral blinkers — the defects of character or culture — that prevent this man from seeing the wrong.
From New York Times ● May 20, 2022
Things that had been out of bounds so far, obscured by history’s blinkers.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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.
