Search Result for "blind alley":
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. a street with only one way in or out;
[syn: blind alley, cul de sac, dead-end street, impasse]

2. (figurative) a course of action that is unproductive and offers no hope of improvement;
- Example: "all the clues led the police into blind alleys"
- Example: "so far every road that we've been down has turned out to be a blind alley"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Blind \Blind\, a. [AS.; akin to D., G., OS., Sw., & Dan. blind, Icel. blindr, Goth. blinds; of uncertain origin.] 1. Destitute of the sense of seeing, either by natural defect or by deprivation; without sight. [1913 Webster] He that is strucken blind can not forget The precious treasure of his eyesight lost. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. Not having the faculty of discernment; destitute of intellectual light; unable or unwilling to understand or judge; as, authors are blind to their own defects. [1913 Webster] But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more, That they may stumble on, and deeper fall. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 3. Undiscerning; undiscriminating; inconsiderate. [1913 Webster] This plan is recommended neither to blind approbation nor to blind reprobation. --Jay. [1913 Webster] 4. Having such a state or condition as a thing would have to a person who is blind; not well marked or easily discernible; hidden; unseen; concealed; as, a blind path; a blind ditch. [1913 Webster] 5. Involved; intricate; not easily followed or traced. [1913 Webster] The blind mazes of this tangled wood. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 6. Having no openings for light or passage; as, a blind wall; open only at one end; as, a blind alley; a blind gut. [1913 Webster] 7. Unintelligible, or not easily intelligible; as, a blind passage in a book; illegible; as, blind writing. [1913 Webster] 8. (Hort.) Abortive; failing to produce flowers or fruit; as, blind buds; blind flowers. [1913 Webster] Blind alley, an alley closed at one end; a cul-de-sac. Blind axle, an axle which turns but does not communicate motion. --Knight. Blind beetle, one of the insects apt to fly against people, esp. at night. Blind cat (Zool.), a species of catfish (Gronias nigrolabris), nearly destitute of eyes, living in caverns in Pennsylvania. Blind coal, coal that burns without flame; anthracite coal. --Simmonds. Blind door, Blind window, an imitation of a door or window, without an opening for passage or light. See Blank door or Blank window, under Blank, a. Blind level (Mining), a level or drainage gallery which has a vertical shaft at each end, and acts as an inverted siphon. --Knight. Blind nettle (Bot.), dead nettle. See Dead nettle, under Dead. Blind shell (Gunnery), a shell containing no charge, or one that does not explode. Blind side, the side which is most easily assailed; a weak or unguarded side; the side on which one is least able or disposed to see danger. --Swift. Blind snake (Zool.), a small, harmless, burrowing snake, of the family Typhlopid[ae], with rudimentary eyes. Blind spot (Anat.), the point in the retina of the eye where the optic nerve enters, and which is insensible to light. Blind tooling, in bookbinding and leather work, the indented impression of heated tools, without gilding; -- called also blank tooling, and blind blocking. Blind wall, a wall without an opening; a blank wall. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

blind alley n 1: a street with only one way in or out [syn: blind alley, cul de sac, dead-end street, impasse] 2: (figurative) a course of action that is unproductive and offers no hope of improvement; "all the clues led the police into blind alleys"; "so far every road that we've been down has turned out to be a blind alley"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

115 Moby Thesaurus words for "blind alley": Autobahn, US highway, alley, alleyway, arterial, arterial highway, arterial street, artery, autoroute, autostrada, avenue, bar, barrier, belt highway, blank wall, blind gut, block, blockade, blockage, bottleneck, boulevard, box, bypass, byway, camino real, carriageway, causeway, causey, cecum, chaussee, choking, choking off, circumferential, clog, close, congestion, constipation, corduroy road, corner, costiveness, county road, court, crescent, cul-de-sac, dead end, dead-end street, deadlock, dike, dirt road, drive, driveway, embolism, embolus, expressway, extremity, freeway, gorge, gravel road, halt, highroad, highway, highways and byways, hole, impasse, impediment, infarct, infarction, interstate highway, jam, lane, local road, main drag, main road, mews, motorway, obstacle, obstipation, obstruction, parkway, pave, paved road, pike, place, plank road, pocket, primary highway, private road, right-of-way, ring road, road, roadbed, roadway, route nationale, row, royal road, sealing off, secondary road, speedway, stalemate, stand, standstill, state highway, stop, stoppage, strangulation, street, superhighway, terrace, thoroughfare, through street, thruway, toll road, township road, turnpike, wynd