unsight

English

Etymology 1

From un- (“absence of”) +‎ sight.

Noun

unsight (uncountable)

1. Absence of sight; lack of vision
   • 2012, Gregory Tate, The Poet's Mind: The Psychology of Victorian Poetry 1830-1870:

     He tries to correct this unsight in the second stanza, asking a series of speculative (and rhetorical) questions about his cousin's life.

   • 2013, Dr Rosemarie Morgan, The Ashgate Research Companion to Thomas Hardy - Page 405:

     [...] as dame in her dwelling, whereby I may picture her there; And in vain do I urge my unsight To conceive my lost prize At her close, whom I knew when her dreams were upbrimming with light, And with laughter her eyes.

   • 2013, Peter V. Brett, The Daylight War - Page 566:

     Her robes shimmered with wards of unsight stitched in electrum thread.

Etymology 2

From un- +‎ sight.

Verb

unsight (third-person singular simple present unsights, present participle unsighting, simple past and past participle unsighted)

1. (transitive, rare) To remove the sight of or from
   • 1996, Andrew J. Webber, The Doppelgänger - Page 297:

     The veil thus marks out the objects of both sexual and metaphysical desire as 'Scheingestalten'. A similar veil unsights the lover's gaze in Angelika as he perceives her 'wie durch einen Schleier' (S 1 116).

2. (firearms) To lose sight on a target
   • 2012, Anthony Price, The '44 Vintage:

     Just jeep as the Sten magazine emptied there came a single shot from the far end of the lane and in the same instant a bullet cracked over Butler's head.The jeep swung sharply to the right, unsighting him.

See also

• unsight unseen

Anagrams

• Gutnish, husting, tushing