blind alley

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blind alley

Where it comes from

The notion of ‘blindness’ comes from the lack of a through passage (the ‘eye’). Attested since 1583, and used figuratively since the mid-19th century.

noun blind alleys

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see blind, alley. A street or passageway that leads nowhere.
Similar: cul-de-sac, dead end
figuratively A course of inquiry that leads nowhere. [Raheem] Sterling was grateful that a glaring miss from [Jesse] Lingard's pass was rescued by a linesman's flag against the Manchester United midfielder, but he almost tried too hard as the game progressed and was running up blind alleys before he was replaced by Marcus Rashford after 68 minutes.

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MLA

"blind alley." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/blind%20alley. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

blind alley. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/blind%20alley

Chicago

"blind alley." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/blind%20alley.

BibTeX

@misc{blind_alley_2026,
  title = {blind alley},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/blind%20alley},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}