The AI-powered English dictionary
plural blinkers
Anything that blinks. examples
(informal, Australia, Northern US) The turn signal of an automobile. examples
Chiefly in the plural: a shield attached to the bridle of a horse or other domesticated animal to prevent it from seeing things behind it and to its side. examples
Whatever obstructs sight or discernment. quotations examples
This floor let not the vulgar tread, / Who worship only what they dread: / Nor bigots who but one way see, / Through blinkers of authority
1732, Matthew Green, Grotto
(rare) The eyelid.
(slang) A black eye. quotations
The next morning, Jimmy came home with a fat lip and a black eye. Flory rushed over to tend to him. “Ain't nothin'. Just a blinker... had a fight with a guy. […]
2011, Mari Christie, Concrete Loyalties, page 419
(cellular automata) In Conway's Game of Life, an arrangement of three cells in a row that switches between horizontal and vertical orientations in each generation. quotations examples
The following for example, doesn't work because the spark at the top is actually a blinker, and doesn't die. Without the blinker, this object is known as an OWSS (overweight spaceship).
1992 August 13, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 1)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)
3 live cells together can yield either a blinker or a block, so these will be the most common objects formed "out of the void".
1994 May 13, Louis Howell, “Louis Howell's question of block clearing in life (simple solution)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)
As Hickerson points out, a glider aimed at a faraway blinker or preblock has only 8 cells, but can be arranged to run as long as you want.
2008 January 8, Dave Greene, “Evolutionary factor in Conway's life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)
(slang) A situation where the light of a dab pen or vape starts blinking, which happens when the user takes an extremely long hit. quotations
When you just hit 2 back to back blinkers off the dab pen and you trying to hold your cough around people
2023 January 31, @GreedyAlmighty, Twitter, archived from the original on 9 December 2023
third-person singular simple present blinkers, present participle blinkering, simple past and past participle blinkered
(transitive) To put blinkers on. examples