blear.

1. To make someone's eyes sore or watery, impairing clear sight.

2. To make an image, view, or perception dim and indistinct.

3. Dim or unclear to sight or imagination, sometimes through watery or tear-filled eyes.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• smoke blears the eyes
• eyes bleared by tears

On the page

The smoke bleared her eyes until the letters swam together.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic literary. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: blear; blears; bleared; bleared; blearing. Adjective comparison more blear or most blear is possible but unusual; clearer phrasing is often preferable. Commonness: uncommon (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Full entry read: verb make eyes sore/watery and dim/blur; adjective watery dimness or obscurity to sight/imagination. Three POS/scope groupings without separate padded adjective shades. Bleared/blearing/blears. Uncommon but useful exact impaired-vision verb rather than inferred inflection of bleary. Individually reviewed for a precise writer function, not selected merely for rarity. Original definitions/examples; commonness editorial, not a corpus statistic. Genre suitability does not establish inherent fear or emotional intensity. Writing functions: impaired vision, an indistinct visual or remembered figure. Third-person singular: blears.