day sightn.
/ˈdeɪ sʌɪt/, U.S. /ˈdeɪ ˌsaɪt/ Now rare.
The condition of having better vision in bright than in dim light; = night-blindness n. Cf. night-sight n. (a) at night n. and int. Compounds 4.Chiefly glossing hemeralopia.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > blindness > night blindness
night-blindness1625
nyctalops1661
nyctalopy1661
nyctalopia1684
day sight1811
1811 A. Rees Cycl. (1819) XVII. at Hemeralopia Accordingly the derivation of the term, as stated by the latter, is from ἡμέρα, the day, and ωψ, the eye, which they conceive to settle the meaning of the word as day-sight.
1829 S. Cooper Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) IV. 204 Day-sight is said to be endemic in some parts of France; and particularly in the neighbourhood of Roche Guyon, on the banks of the Seine.
1832 Edinb. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 38 347 Hemeralopia, Day-Sight, Night Blindness, Tropical Nyctalopia, are all names which characterize an affection of the eyes, by which vision is rendered more imperfect in moderate light, such as during moonlight, than in health.
1870 J. Dixon in T. Holmes Syst. Surg. (ed. 2) III. vii. 139 Hemeralopia—literally ‘day-sight’—is a term used to designate a peculiar form of intermittent blindness, the subjects of which see perfectly in broad daylight, but lose all power of perceiving objects as soon as the sun has set, and twilight commences.
2005 Studia Islamica No. 100–101 31 It refers to a failing of the eye, because of which a person only sees clearly or without pain by day or with a light. Hence this is termed day sight or night blindness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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