Verb
dazzle (third-person singular simple present dazzles, present participle dazzling, simple past and past participle dazzled)
- (transitive) To confuse or overpower the sight of (someone or something, such as a sensor) by means of excessive brightness.
- Hypernym: blind
- Coordinate terms: daze, disorient
Dazzled by the headlights of the lorry, the deer stopped in the middle of the street.
Antidrone lasers can burn or dazzle a drone's sensors.
1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:Those heavenly shapes / Will dazzle now the earthly, with their blaze / Insufferably bright.
1834, Henry Taylor, Philip van Artevelde, volume 1, page 45:An unreflected light did never yet / Dazzle the vision feminine.
- (transitive, figuratively) To render incapable of thinking clearly; to overwhelm with showiness or brilliance.
- Synonyms: impress, overpower
The delegates were dazzled by the originality of his arguments.
- (intransitive) To be overpowered by light; to be confused by excess of brightness.
1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or, A Natural History in Ten Centuries:For we see, that an over-light maketh the Eyes dazel, insomuch as perpetual looking against the Sun, would cause blindness.
Translations
confuse the sight
- Arabic:
- Moroccan Arabic: عْمى (ʕma)
- Bulgarian: заслепявам (bg) (zaslepjavam)
- Catalan: enlluernar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 使目眩 (zh) (shǐ mùxuàn)
- Cornish: dallhe
- Czech: oslnit (cs)
- Dutch: verblinden (nl), blenden (nl)
- Esperanto: blindumi, mirigi, ravi (eo)
- Finnish: sokaista (fi), häikäistä (fi)
- French: éblouir (fr)
- Galician: trasvirar, eslumar, escandear, esbellar, ofuscar, alabarar, frenxer
- Gallurese: abbaglià
- German: blenden (de)
- Greek: θαμπώνω (el) (thampóno)
- Hebrew: סנוור (he) (sinvér)
- Hungarian: elkápráztat (hu)
- Ido: dazlar (io)
- Ingrian: häjätä
- Italian: abbagliare (it), abbacinare (it)
- Japanese: 目を眩ませる (めをくらませる, me o kuramaseru), 眩惑させる (ja) (げんわくさせる, genwaku saseru)
- Latvian: apžilbināt
- Maori: kōrekoreko, whakakōpura
- Ngazidja Comorian: uzusa
- Norwegian: blende, blinde (no)
- Portuguese: ofuscar (pt)
- Russian: ослепля́ть (ru) impf (oslepljátʹ), ослепи́ть (ru) pf (oslepítʹ)
- Sardinian:
- Campidanese: alluinai
- Logudorese: illughinare
- Sassarese: abbaglià,
- Spanish: deslumbrar (es), obnubilar (es), encandilar (es)
- Swedish: blända (sv)
- Walloon: asblawi (wa)
- Welsh: dallu (cy)
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figuratively
- Bulgarian: смайвам (bg) (smajvam), поразявам (bg) (porazjavam)
- Catalan: enlluernar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 使驚奇/使惊奇 (zh) (shǐ jīngqí)
- Czech: oslnit (cs)
- Finnish: sokaista (fi)
- French: éblouir (fr)
- Galician: trasvirar, eslumar, escandear, esbellar, ofuscar, alabarar, abraiar (gl)
- German: verblüffen (de), faszinieren (de), bezaubern (de), betören (de)
- Hungarian: elámít (hu), lenyűgöz (hu)
- Ido: blindigar (io)
- Italian: impressionare (it), abbagliare (it)
- Japanese: 夢中にさせる (ja) (むちゅうにさせる, muchū ni saseru)
- Latvian: apžilbināt
- Norwegian: blende
- Portuguese: ofuscar (pt)
- Russian: поража́ть (ru) impf (poražátʹ), порази́ть (ru) pf (porazítʹ), изумля́ть (ru) impf (izumljátʹ), изуми́ть (ru) pf (izumítʹ)
- Spanish: empaparotar, apabullar (es), obnubilar (es), encandilar (es)
- Walloon: asblawi (wa), esblawter (wa)
- Welsh: syfrdanu (cy)
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Noun
dazzle (countable and uncountable, plural dazzles)
- A light of dazzling brilliancy.
- (figurative) Showy brilliance that may stop a person from thinking clearly.
- (uncommon) A herd of zebra.
- 1958, Laurens Van der Post, The lost world of the Kalahari: with the great and the little memory (1998 David Coulson edition):
- We were trying to stalk a dazzle of zebra which flashed in and out of a long strip of green and yellow fever trees, with an ostrich, its feathers flared like a ballet skirt around its dancing legs, on their flank, when suddenly […]
2009, Darren Paul Shearer, In You God Trusts, page 176:Zebras move in herds which are known as "dazzles." When a lion approaches a dazzle of zebras during its hunt, […]
2010, Douglas Rogers, The Last Resort: A Memoir of Mischief and Mayhem on a Family Farm in Africa, page 22:I reached the lodge as a dazzle of zebras trotted across the dirt road into thorny scrub by the game fence, and a lone kudu gazed up at me from the short grass near the swimming pool.
- (uncountable) Dazzle camouflage.
Translations
a very bright light
- German: Blendlicht n
- Hindi: चकाचौंध (hi) f (cakācaundh)
- Maori: kōnakonako
- Russian: искря́щийся свет m (iskrjáščijsja svet)
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