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e somewhat sore or watery, as the eyes; to dim, or blur, as the sight. Figuratively: To obscure (mental or moral perception); to blind; to hoodwink. That tickling rheums Should ever tease the lungs and blear the sight. Cowper. To blear the eye of, to deceive; to impose upon. [Obs.] Chaucer.

To darken; to obscure to the eye or understanding; to conceal; to deceive. Such darkness blinds the sky. Dryden. The state of the controversy between us he endeavored, with all his art, to blind and confound. Stillingfleet.

A post-office clerk whose duty is to decipher obscure addresses.

Making blind or as if blind; depriving of sight or of understanding; obscuring; as, blinding tears; blinding snow.

To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow. He sung how earth blots the moon's gilded wane. Cowley.

A large pustule, or a coarse eruption. Foul scurf and blotches him defile. Thomson.

To render obscure by making the form or outline of confused and uncertain, as by soiling; to smear; to make indistinct and confused; as, to blur manuscript by handling it while damp; to blur the impression of a woodcut by an excess of ink. But time hath nothing blurred those lines of favor Which then he wore. Shak.…

and brambles, with undergrowth and ferns, or with canes. Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough, To shelter thee from tempest and from rain. Shak. He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone. Sir W. Scott. Cane brake, a thicket of canes. See Canebrake.

To improve or relieve by dispelling gloom or removing that which obscures and darkens; to shed light upon; to make cheerful; as, to brighten one's prospects. An ecstasy, which mothers only feel, Plays round my heart and brightens all my sorrow. Philips.

A separate, private, or obscure street; an out of the way or cross street. He seeks by-streets, and saves the expensive coach. Gay.

An obscure road; a way turning from the main road. Sir P. Sidney.

A private path; an obscure way; indirect means. God known, my son, By what bypaths, and indirect crooked ways, I met this crown. Shak.

A private or obscure road. "Through slippery byroads" Swift.

A secluded, private, or obscure way; a path or road aside from the main one. " Take no byways." Herbert.

Affected with darkness or dimness; dark; obscure. [R.] Blount. The caliginous regions of the air. Hallywell. -- Ca*lig"i*nous*ly, adv. -- Ca*lig"i*nous*ness, n.

Dimness or obscurity of sight, dependent upon a speck on the cornea; also, the speck itself.

The conversion of obscure radiant heat info kight; the transmutation of rays of heat into others of higher refrangibility. Tyndall.

A chamber, or instrument having a chamber. Specifically: The camera obscura when used in photography. See Camera, and Camera obscura. Bellows camera. See under Bellows. -- In camera (Law), in a judge's chamber, that is, privately; as, a judge hears testimony which is not fit for the open court in camera. -- Panoramic…

To inclose or surround, as with a railing, or with latticework. [Obs.] A little obscure place canceled in with iron work is the pillar or stump at which . . . our Savior was scourged. Evelyn.

Mean or unfair artifice to perplex a cause and obscure the truth; stratagem; sharp practice; sophistry. Irritated by perpetual chicanery. Hallam.