Dictionary

bisson en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈbɪsən/

Etymology

From Middle English bisen, bisne (“blind, purblind”), from Old English bisene (“blind”), probably from bi- (“near”) + sīen (“sight”) in the sense of "near-sighted, short-sighted". Compare Dutch bijziende (“mole-eyed”), German beisichtig (“short-sighted”). More at by, see.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) Sandblind, purblind.
   • He was a septuagenary […] He was rugose, pachydermatous, bottlenosed, almost bisson, breviped, tardigradous, and affected with trepidation, partial surdity, and most perceptible seity. Archaisms, exoticisms, and exolete lingo marked his allocution to the conflux. 1856, Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour, Letters to Squire Pedant, in the East, page 32:
2. (obsolete) Blinding.
   • Run bare-foote vp and downe, Threatning the flame With Biſſon Rheume […] c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

Forms