Word of the day: purblind

The word of the day is purblind:

1. nearly or partially blind; dim-sighted.

2. slow or deficient in understanding, imagination, or vision.

3. Obsolete. totally blind.

1250-1300; Middle English pur blind completely blind; see pure (in obsolete adv. sense), blind

"Much of my unassisted self, and more by the help of Biddy than of Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt, I struggled through the alphabet as if it had been a bramble-bush; getting considerably worried and scratched by every letter.  After that I fell among those thieves, the nine figures, who seemed every evening to do something new to disguise themselves and baffle recognition.  But, at last I began, in a purblind groping way, to read, write, and cipher, on the very smallest scale."

 - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations