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Blind vs Shade vs Shutter

Blind, shade, shutter mean a device that serves as a screen for a window.

Blind is used especially in British countries to designate a window covering, usually of fabric and operating on a roller, that shuts out the sunlight or at night prevents those outside from seeing in.

In this sense shade is more usual in the United States. The use of the term blind as an element of or as a shortened form for Venetian blind is common both in American and British countries. Venetian blind refers to a flexible inside curtain composed of light and narrow laths fixed on tapes which may be raised or lowered as desired and whose laths may be opened or closed according to the amount of light needed.

But blind (or blinds, since a pair of the devices is usually fitted to a single window) is used chiefly for a device fitted on the outside or on the inside of a window, made of a wooden frame with slats that are movable or fixed, and typically hinged at the side so that when opened it lies flat against the outside wall or folds into an inner recess of the window frame.

This device is also called a shutter.

But shutter is actually a more inclusive term and implies a device that can be shut (as to exclude light, rain, or wind, to insure privacy, or to make safe against intruders). The term therefore includes such devices as those made of solid panels whether used singly or in pairs or sets to each window, and whether left permanently in place or hung when desired.