English · Idiom Historical

blind as a beetle

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Beetles are not blind, but the dor-beetle or hedge-chafer, in its rapid flight, will occasionally bump against one as if it could not see.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Bọ cánh cứng không mù, nhưng chúng có thể va chạm như thể không thấy

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “blind as a beetle” mean?

Beetles are not blind, but the dor-beetle or hedge-chafer, in its rapid flight, will occasionally bump against one as if it could not see.

Is “blind as a beetle” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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