blether

196 |

3 something that is good or helpful ^ ; ft # :         Lack of traffic is one of the

blessings of country life, ft A A '> H A ft ft      - Aft

&h0 o It’s a blessing that nobody was in the house at the time.          BfMAMf&Ao — see also mixed blessing

fTSTOI a blessing in dis'guise something that seems to be a problem at first, but that has good results in the end  t^ftftfg — more at count v.

blether /'ble9a(r)/ verb, noun = blather blew pt of blow blight /blait/ verb, noun

u verb [VN] to spoil or damage sth, especially by causing a lot of problems MtS ; Mir; Rn iS: His career has been blighted by injuries. ft ^ Jk A ®t ^ M ft ^ ®Di 0 oan area blighted by unemployment fftgftftftilrlftftK mnoun 1 [U, C] any disease that kills plants, especially crops (      potato blight S,#

2 [sing., U] ~ (on sb/sth) something that has a bad effect on a situation, a person’s life or the environ­ment (     ) ftJflttW,

His death cast a blight on the whole of that year.

ft f^ m ft » AITO ft ft 0 0 urban blight (= areas in

a city that are ugly or not cared for well) Tft § fit

SL

blight-er /'blaita(r)/ noun (old-fashioned, BrE, informal) a way of referring to a person (usually a man) that you either find unpleasant or that you feel some sympathy for viRM ( wScpJftW ) Mik ( ilMUft )

Blighty /'blaiti/ noun [u] (BrE) a name for Britain or England, used especially by soldiers in the First and Second World Wars, and now sometimes used in a humorous way

blimey /'blaimi/ (also cor blimey /,ko: 'blaimi; A/Amf ,ko:r/) exclamation {BrE, informal, slang) used to express surprise or anger (        ) : Blimey, it’s hot

today. WiW,

blimp /blimp/ noun 1 (especially NAmE) a small airship (= an aircraft without wings)     2 (also .Colonel

'Blimp) (old-fashioned, BrE, disapproving) an older person, especially an old army officer, with very old- fashioned political opinions ) ► blimp'ish adj.

blind /blaind/ adj., verb, noun, adv.

• adj.{blind er, blind-est) *1 not able to see ; Aft] (ft: Doctors think he will go blind. E ft fit ft Aft A BJ 0 o blind and partially sighted people W AfH 0

One of her parents is blind. ft       —A0

2 the blind noun [pi.] people who are blind W A : recorded books for the blind AWArl!!lft$J^:#fti O guide dogs for the blind 4^ W ft 3 ~ (to sth) not noticing or realizing sth (         ) flWAJAl&ft        She is

blind to her husband’s faults.