moon blindnessn.
/ˈmuːnˌblʌɪn(d)nᵻs/, U.S. /ˈmunˌblaɪn(d)nᵻs/ Now rare.
1. In a horse: recurrent uveitis, which causes intermittent impairment of sight and often total blindness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > disorders of eyes
walleye1523
lunacy1600
moon-eye1607
eyes of wall1611
dragon1639
moon blindnessc1720
moonc1721
glass eye1831
pink-eye1855
c1720 W. Gibson in Compl. Farmer (1766) at Blind Q 4/1 Another kind of moon-blindness, which is also the fore-runners of cataracts.
1871 F. A. Gunther New Man. Homoeopathic Vet. Med. 115 The latter affection [sc. periodical ophthalmia] is commonly called moon-blindness, because formerly it was supposed that it owed its origin to the influence of the moon on the eyes.
1894 M. H. Hayes Among Men & Horses i. 9 The chronic disease of the eyes..known as moon-blindness.
1903 N. S. Mayo Care of Animals 309 Moon blindness is a periodic inflammation of the deeper structures of the eye of horses... It was formerly thought that the changes of the moon caused this disease.
1992 G. P. West Black's Veterinary Dict. (ed. 17) at Periodic ophthalmia Specific ophthalmia, or ‘moon blindness’, is a condition of the eyes of horses, due to inflammation of the uveal tract.
2. In a human being: (in early use) blindness attributed to sleeping in bright moonlight, or manifested only in moonlight; (later) night blindness.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > blindness > moon-blindness
moon-blind1668
moon blindness1850
moon-blind1877
1850 J. S. Jenkins U.S. Exploring Exped.: Voy. of Exploring Squadron 234 In the season of the variable winds, pectolapia [sic], or moon-blindness, supersedes ophthalmia.
1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. S. Afr. vi. 133 You may sleep out at night, looking up to the moon till you fall asleep, without a thought or sign of moon-blindness.
1866 A. Lippe Text Bk. Materia Medica 67 Blindness at night (moon-blindness).
1900 G. M. Gould & W. L. Pyle Anomalies & Curiosities Med. x. 537 Other forms of retinal injury..are ‘moon-blindness’, due to sleeping with the eyes exposed to bright moonlight.
1917 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 90 69 The subject of congenital night-blindness (sometimes called moon-blindness) has been left with several obscure points unexplained.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.c1720