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blur
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
blur
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a blurred outline (=unclear)
▪ Through the spaces between the bars he saw the blurred outline of the oil derrick high in the sky.
blur sb’s vision (=make someone not see clearly)
▪ Tears of fury blurred her vision, and she blinked them away.
blur the distinction between sth and sth (=make it less clear)
▪ Both sides in the war had been blurring the distinction between military and civilian targets.
blurred
▪ He was shown a blurred photograph, taken from a moving car.
blurred (=not clear)
▪ He complained of headaches and blurred vision.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Below, in the garden, she saw the blur of white.
▪ He was unbelievably quick, his hands, feet blurs in the high roof wind.
▪ It was a blur, his crying, just like when you go to a hospital to get stitches.
▪ Or perhaps this is just the wisdom of hindsight, a rosy blur of sentiment cast by nostalgia over the scene.
▪ She could see nothing except a vivid scarlet blur, the colour of a London bus.
▪ The rest of the tour goes by in a gray, drizzly blur.
▪ We are not content to leave the universe in a blur.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
boundary
▪ Even more than Sukenick's, Raymond Federman's novels repeatedly blur the boundaries between criticism and fiction.
▪ Because children blur the boundaries of self, men, who guard their boundaries so vigilantly, feel claustrophobic with them.
▪ He identifies the reasons for the emergence of the problem: Three factors have contributed to blurring these sector boundaries.
▪ The change process has also blurred the boundaries of the firm.
▪ In almost all areas of modern life, the internet revolution has smashed down barriers and blurred boundaries.
distinction
▪ It is easy to blur such distinctions.
▪ All around us, Negroponte says, computers are blurring the distinction between atoms and bits.
▪ These considerations tend to blur the distinction somewhat.
▪ They do not blur the distinction between testation and intestacy, but they mitigate it.
▪ The development of the concept of abuse of power blurred the distinction between merits and vires.
▪ And thirdly, by distributing company stock to employees it has blurred the capital-labour distinction in a number of firms.
▪ Mosley too became increasingly prone to blur the distinction between art, philosophy and life.
▪ Critical seminars within the university may sometimes blur this distinction if they contain elements of genuine intellectual exchange.
image
▪ Soft tears blurred the image in the mirror.
▪ I was facing a mirror that held my blurred image.
▪ Now blur the image slightly-most graphics editors will do this-and save it again with a different name.
▪ Many chronophotographs combined the virtues of both the blurred and the instantaneous image.
▪ It smooths or blurs the image so that local deviations from the overall trend are removed.
line
▪ Badu blurs the lines between art and artifice, plastic soul and raw feeling.
▪ Prince, and the artist formerly known as, has long blurred the lines between divinity and getting down.
▪ Warwick's opening gambit is to blur the line between consciousness and intelligence.
▪ This blurs the line between words and phrases.
lines
▪ Badu blurs the lines between art and artifice, plastic soul and raw feeling.
▪ Prince, and the artist formerly known as, has long blurred the lines between divinity and getting down.
vision
▪ She felt the anguished tears of motherhood blur her vision and blinked them away.
▪ After a few minutes of running through drills, the girls began to complain of headaches and blurred vision.
▪ Tears blurred her vision as she swung out, hammering on the horn.
▪ Frank slid into second base, wound up with blurred vision and missed the rest of the year.
▪ Instead of which she found herself having to blink away the sting of tears that blurred her vision.
▪ Sufferers also complain of headaches, intermittent blurred vision and vision sluggishness.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ His novels tend to blur the distinctions between reality and fantasy.
▪ Problems with the mirrors blurred the telescope's view.
▪ The difference between male and female roles within the house has become blurred.
▪ The show blurs the difference between education and entertainment.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ In the above account the distinction between changes in money wages and changes in real wages has been deliberately blurred.
▪ Sin has certainly spoiled and blurred it, but man remains a reasoning, moral, creative creature.
▪ The glitter of the street-lights on the damp tarmac was blurred by the thickening fog.
▪ There was a lake and a sweep of land blurring into mountains.
▪ These all look like important questions but, once again, the methodology of state-centrism serves to blur rather than clarify the issues.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Blur

Blur \Blur\ (bl[^u]r), n.

  1. That which obscures without effacing; a stain; a blot, as upon paper or other substance.

    As for those who cleanse blurs with blotted fingers, they make it worse.
    --Fuller.

  2. A dim, confused appearance; indistinctness of vision; as, to see things with a blur; it was all blur.

  3. A moral stain or blot.

    Lest she . . . will with her railing set a great blur on mine honesty and good name.
    --Udall.

Blur

Blur \Blur\ (bl[^u]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blurred (bl[^u]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Blurring.] [Prob. of same origin as blear. See Blear.]

  1. To render obscure by making the form or outline of confused and uncertain, as by soiling; to smear; to make indistinct and confused; as, to blur manuscript by handling it while damp; to blur the impression of a woodcut by an excess of ink.

    But time hath nothing blurred those lines of favor Which then he wore.
    --Shak.

  2. To cause imperfection of vision in; to dim; to darken.

    Her eyes are blurred with the lightning's glare.
    --J. R. Drake.

  3. To sully; to stain; to blemish, as reputation.

    Sarcasms may eclipse thine own, But can not blur my lost renown.
    --Hudibras.

    Syn: To spot; blot; disfigure; stain; sully.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
blur

1540s, "smear on the surface of writing;" perhaps akin to blear. Extended sense of "confused dimness" is from 1860.

blur

1580s, and thus probably from blur (n.), but the dates are close and either might be the original. Related: Blurred; blurring.

Wiktionary
blur

n. 1 A smear, smudge or blot 2 Something that appears hazy or indistinct vb. 1 To make indistinct or hazy, to obscure or dim. 2 To smear, stain or smudge. 3 (context intransitive English) To become indistinct. 4 To cause imperfection of vision in; to dim; to darken. 5 To sully; to stain; to blemish, as reputation.

WordNet
blur
  1. n. a hazy or indistinct representation; "it happened so fast it was just a blur"; "he tried to clear his head of the whisky fuzz" [syn: fuzz]

  2. [also: blurring, blurred]

blur
  1. v. become glassy; lose clear vision; "Her eyes glazed over from lack of sleep" [syn: film over, glaze over]

  2. to make less distinct or clear; "The haze blurs the hills" [ant: focus]

  3. make unclear, indistinct, or blurred; "Her remarks confused the debate"; "Their words obnubilate their intentions" [syn: confuse, obscure, obnubilate]

  4. make a smudge on; soil by smudging [syn: smear, smudge, smutch]

  5. make dim or indistinct; "The drug blurs my vision" [syn: blear] [ant: focus]

  6. become vague or indistinct; "The distinction between the two theories blurred" [syn: dim, slur] [ant: focus]

  7. [also: blurring, blurred]

Wikipedia
Blur (band)

Blur are an English rock band, formed in London in 1988. The group consists of singer/keyboardist Damon Albarn, guitarist/singer Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Their debut album Leisure (1991) incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing. Following a stylistic change influenced by English guitar pop groups such as the Kinks, the Beatles and XTC, Blur released Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). In the process, the band helped establish the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a chart battle with rivals Oasis in 1995 dubbed the "Battle of Britpop".

In recording their follow-up, Blur (1997), the band underwent another reinvention, showing influence from the lo-fi style of American indie rock groups. The album, including the " Song 2" single, brought Blur mainstream success in the United States. Their next album, 13 (1999) saw the band members experimenting with electronic and gospel music, and featured more personal lyrics from Albarn. In May 2002, Coxon left Blur during the recording of their seventh album Think Tank (2003). Containing electronic sounds and more minimal guitar work, the album was marked by Albarn's growing interest in hip hop and African music. After a 2003 tour without Coxon, Blur did no studio work or touring as a band, as members engaged in other projects.

Blur reunited, with Coxon back in the fold, for a series of concerts in 2009. In the following years they released several singles and retrospective compilations, and toured internationally. In 2012, the group received a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. Their first major release in twelve years, The Magic Whip (2015), became the sixth consecutive Blur studio album to top the British charts.

Blur

Blur may refer to:

Blur (Rachael Lampa album)

Blur is the third album from CCM artist Rachael Lampa. This is a remix project, released in 2002 by Word Records.

Blur (video game)

Blur (Stylized as blur) is an arcade racing video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Activision in North America and Europe. It features a racing style that incorporates real world cars and locales with arcade style handling and vehicular combat.

Blur (Blur album)

Blur is the eponymous fifth studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 10 February 1997 by Food Records. Blur had previously been broadly critical of American popular culture and their previous albums had become associated with the Britpop movement, particularly Parklife (1994), which had helped them become one of Britain's leading pop acts. After their previous album, The Great Escape, the band faced media backlash and relationships between the members became strained.

Under the suggestion of the band's guitarist, Graham Coxon, the band underwent a stylistic change, becoming influenced by American indie rock bands such as Pavement and Sonic Youth. Recording took place in London as well as in Reykjavík, Iceland. Drummer Dave Rowntree described the music on the album as being more aggressive and emotional than their previous work. Producer Stephen Street claimed that lead singer-songwriter Damon Albarn had started writing about more personal experiences while Coxon revealed that listening to his lyrics it was clear to him that "he'd obviously gone off his head a bit more".

Despite worries from Blur's label, EMI, and the music press that the change in style would alienate the band's predominantly teenage fanbase and that the album would flop as a result, Blur, as well as lead single, " Beetlebum", reached the top of the UK charts and the album was certified platinum. The album also reached the top 20 in six other countries. The success of " Song 2" led to Blur becoming the band's most successful album in the US where the Britpop scene had been largely unsuccessful. The album received positive and mixed reviews from most music critics, many praising the stylistic change as well as Albarn's improved songwriting.

Usage examples of "blur".

After two days of riding the wall, and time spent in the evening studying the ward-wall patrol manual that Maran had provided, his eyes tend to blur whenever he looks toward the chaos and whitened granite that prisons the Accursed Forest.

That, perhaps, would be learned by heart and reproduced elsewhere underground, imperfect memory blurring the sharp elegance but perhaps not wholly losing that name, in some allomorph or other.

The gher hung in the analogue of the night sky, among great blurred star-spheres.

His forgetfulness, at first seemingly attributable to age, leads to a blurring of his awareness between consciousness and dreaming, between things that happened long ago and events as they unfold in the present.

The blurring became a smear, then where the man had stood there was only a bedraggled crow, cawing sharply as it rose upward, wings thrumming, and was swallowed by darkness.

Cloud City on the planet Bespin was usually a blur of tourist activitiesskysailing, sightseeing in cloud cars, gambling in casinos, dancing, and dining in fine floating restaurants.

Dez, Blaise shook her head, but with her vision still blurred by tears, she managed to follow Blair to their next class.

And with her mind she reached out for the soothing controls, blurring the grief, instilling calm, urging courage and hope.

Lights blurring and turning around him, as if he were floating in some great bubble or tube, floating down a stream of water.

He peered down from the ladle, his wings blurring to nothing when he noticed Nick.

The sparkles in his black silk shirt caught the light, adding to the glow his blurring wings put out.

Nick was shadowed and closed, the dim light from oncoming motorists blurring his sharp nose and thin face.

The world was blurring before me, and suddenly one of the biggest blurs was directly in my path.

Their call to hunt that shadow woman had become distracting, blurring his vision with images of violet eyes.

The street leading back to the north gate of the city was far less crowded, and, thankfully, his blurring effort was working enough that not a soul of the handful of people he passed in the orange light of dawn even seemed to look in his direction.