blur
[blur]
- to obscure or sully (something) by smearing or with a smeary substance: The windows were blurred with soot.
- to obscure by making confused in form or outline; make indistinct: The fog blurred the outline of the car.
- to dim the perception or susceptibility of; make dull or insensible: The blow on the head blurred his senses.
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- to become indistinct: Everything blurred as she ran.
- to make blurs.
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- a smudge or smear that obscures: a blur of smoke.
- a blurred condition; indistinctness: They could see nothing in the foggy blur.
- something seen indistinctly: The ship appeared as a blur against the horizon.
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Origin of blur
First recorded in 1540–50; akin to blear
Synonyms
See more synonyms for blur on Thesaurus.com2. cloud, dim, darken, veil, mask.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for blur
Contemporary Examples
We had a chance to blur it, but you really need to feel the pain.
As pioneers of experiential art, the duo wanted to blur the lines between reality and cartoonish fantasy.
“It was like a blur,” Schottel told The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
The blur proved to be from 12 hours after the incident anyway.
Couture Week in Paris is a blur of highly-priced luxury, some of it luxe, some of it trashy-looking.
Historical Examples
The girl's dress remained a spot of cheerful color; her face was a blur.
The Black BagLouis Joseph Vance
A face was there—a man with a blur of opalescent light behind him.
The World BeyondRaymond King Cummings
Page after page of the neatest of minute figures, not a blot, not a blur, not an erasure.
The PortygeeJoseph Crosby Lincoln
The propeller vanished in a blur as Jeter let the motor out.
Lords of the StratosphereArthur J. Burks
Time will blur the incongruities and moss over the mistakes.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, CompleteAlbert Bigelow Paine
blur
- to make or become vague or less distinctheat haze blurs the hills; education blurs class distinctions
- to smear or smudge
- (tr) to make (the judgment, memory, or perception) less clear; dim
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- something vague, hazy, or indistinct
- a smear or smudge
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Word Origin
C16: perhaps variant of blear
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
Word Origin and History for blur
n.
1540s, "smear on the surface of writing;" perhaps akin to blear. Extended sense of "confused dimness" is from 1860.
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v.
1580s, and thus probably from blur (n.), but the dates are close and either might be the original. Related: Blurred; blurring.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper