venetian blind

American  

noun

1. a blind, as for a window, having overlapping horizontal slats that may be opened or closed, especially one in which the slats may be raised and drawn together above the window by pulling a cord.

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Venetian blind British  

noun

1. a window blind consisting of a number of horizontal slats whose angle may be altered to let in more or less light

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Other Word Forms

• venetianed adjective

Etymology

Origin of venetian blind

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

A panhandler enters a subway car, and every eye turns to the floor as smoothly as the slats of a venetian blind sliding shut.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 16, 2019

A car passed slowly outside, its headlights illuminating the bathroom through an open venetian blind.

From The New Yorker • May 20, 2019

“If I fix this, you have to start the story with it,” Chris Christie told me, yanking the string of the venetian blind in the diner window.

From New York Times • Nov. 20, 2014

From shore, the swell lines were stacked up to the horizon like a venetian blind.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the hot weather the windows are left entirely open, or are simply closed with a sort of venetian blind.

From Mark Seaworth by Kingston, William Henry Giles