| 释义 |
▪ I. blank, a.|blæŋk|
Forms: 5–7 blanke, 6–7 blanck(e, 7–8 blanc, 5– blank.
[F. blanc white, a common Romanic adj. (Pr. blanc, blanca, Sp. blanco, Pg. branco, It. bianco, med.L. blancus), a. OHG. blanch (MHG. blanc):—OTeut. *blanko-z shining, referred by etymologists generally to the verbal stem blink, as a nasalized form of blik- in blîkan, OHG. blîchan, OE. blícan to shine. But *blink, *blinch is not actually found in any of the old dialects; and the origin of *blanko-z thus remains obscure.]
A. adj.
1. White (obs., and chiefly in specific uses, e.g. blank plumb white lead, blank falcon a ‘white hawk,’ i.e. one in its third year); pale, colourless.
c1325Coer de L. 6526 A robe i-furryd with blaun [? blaunc] and nere. c1440Promp. Parv. 38 Blanke plumbe [K.H. blavmblumbe, 1499 blawnblumb, otherwyse called whyte lede.] a1500in Rel. Ant. I. 108 Tempur blank chalke, plum or ceruse, with gleyre. 1562Leigh Armorie (1597) 133 b, The Herehaught..in a chemise blanke, powdred and spotted with mullets Sable. 1575Turberv. Bk. Falconry 212 The blancke falcons are flegmaticke. 1615Latham Falconry (1633) 25 In your blanke Hawks. 1667Milton P.L. x. 656 To the blanc Moone Her office they prescrib'd. 1726Thomson Winter 124 Rising slow, Blank, in the leaden-colour'd east, the moon. 1821Byron Juan iv. ix, The blank grey was not made to blast their hair.
2. a. Of paper, etc.: Left white or ‘fair’; not written upon, free from written or printed characters, ‘empty of all marks’ (J.); said also of orders, cheques, deeds, and official documents left with an empty space for special signature or instruction; not ‘filled up’. See 10.
1547Lyndesay Trag. Cdl. Betoun 121 Ane paper blank his Grace I gart subscrive. 1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 77, I warrant he hath a thousand of these Letters, writ with blancke-space for different names. 1687Lond. Gaz. No. 2209/4 A Copy-Book of Letters..about one half of it being Blank paper. 1708Ibid. No. 4499/3 His Grace sent him a blank Passport. 1712Addison Spect. No. 549 ⁋1 When I look upon the Creditor-side, I find little more than blank Paper. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 178 Requesting the King to send a blank safe conduct in the largest terms.
b. Const. of.
1842Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 156 That God hath now Sponged and made blank of crimeful record.
c. in blank: without names specified.
1836Kent Comm. Amer. Law xliv. (1873) III. 89 A note endorsed in blank is like one payable to bearer. 1845Stephen Laws Eng. II. 129 Policies being made in blank, that is, without specifying the names of the persons, for whose benefit they were made. 1861Goschen For. Exch. 37 Bills which are technically said to be drawn in blank.
3. a. gen. Empty, without contents, void, bare.
1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. xxix, Wide o'er this ample court's blank area. 1840Hood Up Rhine (1869) 245 The Figure..strode forth into the blank darkness. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps 201 The blank lancet arch on the one hand, and the overcharged cinquefoiled arch on the other. 1855Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §6 The blank sensation of the naked body is owing principally to the deprivation of touch. 1856Dove Logic Chr. Faith v. i. §1. 261 Issuing out of a universe in which there was only blank space.
b. blank practice: practice with ‘blank’ or empty cartridges (see 10). Also fig.
1873Morley Rousseau I. 66 Rousseau..changed the blank practice of the elder philosophers into a deadly affair of ball and shell.
4. fig.
a. Void of interest or event; vacant, ‘having nothing in it;’ as a blank look-out.
1729Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 189 Various kinds of amusements..serve to fill up the blank spaces of time. 1803Bristed Pedest. Tour II. 481 They..suffered us to talk Irish to ourselves all the evening, without the least interruption, so that we had but a blank night of it. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 753 A year which the Chronicles leave quite blank.
b. Void of result, unsuccessful, fruitless, nugatory; amounting to or producing nothing.
a1553Udall Royster D. ii. ii. (Arb.) 34, I weene I am a prophete, this geare will proue blanke. 1627E. F. Hist. Edw. II, (1680) 47 The King doubles his pace homewards; instead of Triumph, glad he had got loose from so imminent a danger..This blank return filled the Kingdom with a fretting murmur. 1643Lanc. Tracts 165 The two Colonells being blank in their treaty, spent their stay in wise instructions. 1699Boyer Fr. Dict. (1753), A blank (or bad) come-off, Une méchante defaite. 1832R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunt. Songs ii. (1883) 7 The man..Whose heart heaves a sigh when his gorse is drawn blank. Ibid. 163 But I felt inclin'd in my inmost mind, To wish for a blank day.
c. Of the face or look: Void of expression, expressing no attention, interest, or emotion; vacant. Also const. of.
1859Tennyson Elaine 816 While he roll'd his eyes Yet blank from sleep. 1884J. H. Ewing Story Short Life i, Lady Jane's face was blank because she was trying not to laugh. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan i. iii. 85 To look with blank fixed gaze at these old books. 1924A. E. W. Mason House of Arrow viii. 97 Hanaud's eyes..were blank of all expression.
5. Of persons: (Looking) as if deprived of the faculty of speech or action; ‘shut up,’ utterly disconcerted, discomfited, resourceless, or non-plussed; now chiefly in to look blank: cf. prec.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 61 a, Beeyng confounded and made blanke in a disputacion of a certain feloe. 1580Baret Alv. B 781 These fellowes be blanke or out of hart and courage. 1649Milton Eikon. 184 The Damsell of Burgundy at sight of her own letter, was soon blank. 1652Bp. Hall Invis. World iii. §3 How blank must Moses needs have looked to see his great works patterned by those presumptuous rivals! 1667Milton P.L. ix. 890 Adam..amaz'd, Astonied stood and Blank. 1711Addison Spect. No. 7 ⁋1 Upon this I looked very blank. 1727Thomson Summer 1050 The blank assistants seem'd, Silent, to ask, whom Fate would next demand. 1853Kingsley Hypatia xi. 134 The two old men looked at each other with blank and horror-stricken faces.
6. Of emotions: Prostrating the whole faculties; unrelieved, helpless, stark, sheer.
1634Milton Comus 452 Noble grace that dashed brute violence With sudden adoration and blank awe. 1717Pope Eloisa 148 'Tis all blank sadness, or continual tears. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. vii. xi. (1849) 437 Blank terror reigned over the community. 1837Dickens Pickw. v, Gazing on each other with countenances of blank dismay. 1875Hamerton Intell. Life i. vii. 39, I well remember the blank despair which I felt.
7. a. gen. Pure, unmixed, utter, downright, sheer, absolute (with a negative or privative force).
1839De Quincey Murder Wks. 1862 IV. 59 The blank impossibilities of Lilliput. 1856Kane Arct. Exp. I. xviii. 222 The red sandstones contrast most favorably with the blank whiteness. 1871Farrar Witn. Hist. ii. 54 The blank atheism..of recent controversialists.
†b. Mere, bare, simple. Obs.
1596Nashe Saffron-Wald. Wks. (1883–4) 103 None is priuy to a blank maintenance he hath, and some maintenance of necessity he must haue. 1640Brome Antip. v. iv. Wks. III. 327 Did you not warrant me upon that pawne..your blanck honour, That you would cure his jealousie?
c. Cards. Unsupported by other cards of the same suit (see quots.).
1895Manson Sporting Dict., Blank, a card in hand is said to be blank when there is no other card of the same suit in hand with it. The term is also applied to a king and queen of the same suit, in which case the twenty of that suit is blank. 1934[see blank v. 8]. 1958Listener 16 Oct. 611/3 The blank honour combination in diamonds takes the bloom off West's hand.
8. a. blank verse: verse without rime; esp. the iambic pentameter or unrimed heroic, the regular measure of English dramatic and epic poetry, first used by the Earl of Surrey (died 1547).
1589Nashe in Greene Menaph. Pref. (Arb.) 6 The swelling bumbast of bragging blanke verse. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 339 The Lady shall say her minde freely; or the blanke Verse shall halt for't. 1739Chesterfield Lett. I. xxv. 93 Those that have no rhymes are called blank verses. 1784Cowper Lett. 13 Dec., Blank verse is susceptible of a much greater diversification of manner than verse in rhyme. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. ix. 385 Our greatest poems have been written in blank verse.
b. Hence blank versifier.
1746W. Horsley The Fool (1748) ii. 96 Rebus-Men, Punsters, and Blank Versifiers.
9. Comb., as blank-eyed, blank-faced, blank-looking adjs.
1881H. James Portr. Lady xxxvi, It was her habit to interpose a good many blank-looking pauses. 1882J. Parker Apost. Life (1884) III. 63 The blank-eyed villagers. 1887G. Meredith Ballads & Poems 61 He raced..across a ground Flint of breast, blank-faced. 1921V. Woolf Writer's Diary 8 Apr. (1953) 31 This diary being a kindly blankfaced old confidante.
10. In various specific collocations: as (in sense 2) blank acceptance, one not having the amount filled in; blank bar, ‘a Plea in Bar, which in an Action of Trespass is put in to compel the Plaintiff to assign the certain place where the Trespass was committed’ (Blount Law Dict. 1670); blank bond, a bond in which a blank is left for the creditor's name; blank charter, a document given to the agents of the crown in Richard II.'s reign, with power to fill it up as they pleased; hence fig. liberty to do as one likes; blank cheque, one not having the amount filled in (see also cheque, check 3); blank credit, ‘an authorized permission given to draw on an individual or firm to a certain amount’ (Ogilvie); blank flange (see quot. 1940); blank indorsement, a bill in which the indorsee's name is omitted. Also (in sense 3) blank-cartridge, a cartridge containing no ball; blank-door (Arch.), an imitation of a door; blank-tire, a tire without a flange; blank-tooling = blind-blocking; see blind 14; blank wall, (a) a wall without an opening in it; (b) an apparently impenetrable obstacle, esp. in phr. to come up against a blank wall (cf. brick wall n.1 2). blank-window, an imitation-window. Also blank-form: see blanch; point blank: see point.
1826Gentl. Mag. May 458/2 Their carbines..were only loaded with *blank cartridges.
1398Hist. Croyland. Cont. in Rer. Angl. Script. Vet. (1684) I. 493 Quadam alba charta vocata *Blankechartre..quod utique Regis Richardi in posterum causa exitii magna fuit. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. iv. 48 Our Substitutes at home shall haue Blanke-charters. 1593Donne Sat. iii, That God hath with his hand Sign'd kings blank-charters, to kill whom they hate.
1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 94/2 Blank flange, a disc, or solid flange, used to blank off the end of a pipe.
1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 54/1 *Blank wall, a wall without an opening in it. 1930Economist 9 Aug. 290/1 Restriction proposals in the rubber-growing industry have apparently come up against a blank wall. 1958Times 17 Nov. 11/3 The Advisory Council on Standards for Consumer Goods..has continued to come up against a blank wall of opposition on matters which were clearly worrying it a year ago.
†B. quasi-adv. Absolutely, unreservedly. Obs.
1677Temple Let. Wks. 1731 II. 434 The Allegations on either side are blank contrary one to the other.
▪ II. blank, n.|blæŋk|
Forms: 6–7 blanc, blanke, blanck(e, 7– blank.
[f. prec. The senses consist of a number of absolute or elliptical uses of the adj., not mutually connected. (The arrangement here is chiefly chronological.)]
†1. A small French coin, originally of silver, but afterwards of copper; also a silver coin of Henry V current in the parts of France then held by the English. According to Littré, the French blanc was worth 5 deniers. The application of the name in the 17th c. is uncertain. Obs.
a1399Arnold Chron. (1811) 14 Yeldyng therof by yere CCC li. of sterlynge of blankis. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxliv. 298 The frensshmen playde owre kyng and his lordes at the dise and an archer alwey for a blank of hir money. For they wenden al had ben heres. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccxli. 776 Whosoeuer brought a fagot before the kynges tent, he shulde haue a blanke of Fraunce. 1577Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 204 He did rather leaue his woode vnsolde, then abate one blanke of his price. 1629S'hertogenbosh 45 Candles 12 stiuers a pound, an Egge two blancks. 1670Blount Law Dict., Blancks, a kinde of Money, coyned by King Henry the Fifth, in the parts of France, which were then subject to England, the value whereof was 8d... The reason why they were called Blanks, was because..this of Silver, was in name distinguished by the colour. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Blank also denotes a small copper coin, formerly current in France, at the rate of five deniers Tournois. 1863Spring & Sum. in Lapland 81 A specie dollar, or ‘blank,’ as they call it here, will rouse the apathy and greed of a Lap when paper currency will have no effect.
2. a. The white spot in the centre of a target; hence fig. anything aimed at, the range of such aim.
1554Interl. Youth in Hazl. Dodsl. II. 35 Pink and drink, and also at the blank, And many sports mo. 1598Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 35 To cause them to leuell, and discharge at the blancke thereof. 1837Card. Wiseman Fun. Orat. Cdl. Weld 23 Rome, the very blank and aim of religious partizanship in our country.
Cf. the following with b, as illustrating its origin:
1602Shakes. Ham. iv. i. 42 (Globe) As level as the cannon to his blank Transports his poisoned shot. 1604― Oth. iii. iv. 128, I haue stood within the blanke of his displeasure.
b. ‘Level line mark for cannon, as point-blank, equal to 800 yards.’ Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.
1747Gentl. Mag. XVII. 398 Fired at the Bellona, which Capt. Barrington..did not return (being but just within blank).
†3. A nonplus. Obs.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 61 a, Aristippus was nothyng greued to take a blanke in disputacion. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts vi. 10 The inwarde griefe..whiche thei had conceiued for the blancke they wer put unto. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 362 Such a place, as turned them all to a blanke.
4. A lottery ticket which does not gain a prize. to draw a blank: see draw v. 52 b.
1567in Kempe Loseley MSS. (1835) 188 A verie rich Lotterie..without any blancks. 1607Shakes. Cor. v. ii. 10 It is Lots to Blankes, My name hath touch't your eares. 1779J. Moore View Soc. II. xcv. 426 All the tickets he had in the lottery had proved blanks. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 4 When one has drawn a blank.
5. a. A blank space in a written or printed document.
c1570Leg. Bp. St. Andrews in Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 343, I sall leive blankis for to imbrew thame. 1632Star Chamb. Cases (1886) 119 Warrantes..with blankes for names of plaintiff and defendant. c1677Marvell Growth Popery Wks. I. 555 Which blanck..shall be filled up with the Christian name of such King or Queen. a1745Swift (J.) I cannot write a paper full as I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you. a1859Macaulay Hist. Eng. V. 138 Full powers must be sent..with blanks left for the names of the plenipotentiaries.
b. Provisional words printed in italics (instead of blank spaces) in a bill before Parliament, being matters of practical detail, of which the final form will be settled in Committee.
1817Parl. Debates 583/2 The blanks of the bill were then filled up in the committee. 1863H. Cox Inst. i. ix. 167 In going through the bill [in committee], words printed in italics, commonly called ‘blanks,’ stand, unless objected to.
c. in blank [after F. en blanc]: with blank spaces for the filling in of details.
c1814A. Rees Cycl. (1819) XXVIII. sig. H1r/2 Inconvenience having been experienced from having marine insurances in blank. 1842Stephen Comm. Laws Eng. II. ii. v. 164 A bill, payable to order, is indorsed in blank by the payee. 1858J. W. Smith Law of Bills 27 Another way in which the holder of a bill or note indorsed to him in blank may transfer it without incurring personal liability, is by writing over the indorser's signature the words, ‘Pay A. B. or order’. 1882Bithell Counting-ho. Dict. 45 Bills and Notes of this description are said to be drawn ‘in Blank’.
6. a. A document, ‘paper,’ or ‘form’ with spaces left blank to be filled up at the pleasure of the person to whom it is given (e.g. a blank charter), or as the event may determine; a blank form. Now chiefly U.S., freq. with defining term.
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 708 The citie of Athens..was constrained to sende a blanke for capitulations of peace. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 250 And daily new exactions are deuis'd, As blankes, beneuolences, and I wot not what. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. v. iii, Throw him the blank. Melantius, write in that Thy choice. 1711in Lond. Gaz. No. 4817/7 The several Blanks..are printed..at the Crown and Scepter. 1780J. Reed in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) III. 23 We have furnished the Commissioners with blanks of various kinds of returns, and directed them to send us a weekly account. 1805D. McClure Diary (1899) 83 Dr. Wheelock..had given us blanks, for bills of Exchange, on the School's funds, in Scotland. 1860Holland Miss Gilbert's Career x. 181 You've had to write the whole of this. How long have we been out of blanks? 1904P. H. Hanus Mod. School 128 By means of question blanks sent to the parents, much information..is secured by the teachers. 1904N.Y. Times 24 Nov. 1 The messages were always on regular telegraph blanks. 1963P.M.L.A. LXXVIII. iv. ii. 15/1 These committees required applicants to send in a completed application blank together with academic transcripts.
b. An empty form without substance; anything insignificant; nothing at all.
a1700Dryden (J.) She has left him The blank of what he was. 1704Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 308 People might have thought..I was gone with him a blank, he being called governor. 1742Young Nt. Th. ii. 80 No blank, no trifle, nature made, or meant. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. i, His debts amount to blank—his losses to blank—his funds to blank—leaving a balance of blank in his favour.
c. An unprinted leaf of a book.
1952J. Carter ABC for Book-Collectors 36 Blanks sometimes occur at the beginning of the book, sometimes at the end of a clearly marked division, more often at the end of the last gathering.
7. fig. A vacant space, place, or period; a void.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iv. 113 Duke. And what's her history? Vio. A blanke, my lord. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 48 For the Book of knowledg fair Presented with a Universal blanc Of Natures works to mee expung'd and ras'd. 1759Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 525 The remainder of that day was wasted..The next was a blank likewise. 1793Ld. Spencer in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 124 The interval till then will be a complete blank in my life. c1815J. Hislop Scott. Sacr. Sabb. vii, The blanks in family circles fill'd again. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. vi. 142 The future is a blank, or a dark enigma to them.
8. Blank verse; cf. blank a. 8.
1589Greene Menaph. Wks. 1881–3 VI. 27 Lest..they bewaile in weeping blankes the wane of their Monarchie. 1627Feltham Resolves i. lxx. Wks. (1677) 108, I hold it better put in Prose, or Blanks. 1793Southey Nondescr. i. Wks. III. 58 In Miltonic blank bemouth'd. 1809Byron Bards & Rev. ix, Rhyme and blank maintain an equal race.
9. Mech.
a. A piece of metal, cut and shaped to the required size of the thing to be made, and ready for the finishing operations; esp. in Coinage, the disc of metal before stamping.
1596J. Burel Entry Q. Edinb., Braid blancis hang above thair eis, With jewels of all histories. c1695in Ruding Ann. Coinage (ed. 2) III. 423 The Blanks for Farthings cast. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Blank, in coinage, a plate, or piece of gold, or silver, cut and shaped for a coin, but not yet stamped. 1831J. Holland Manuf. Metals I. 201 The blanks for wood screws are generally forged by the nailors. 1881Greener Gun 296 The blank [for a cartridge case] is..forced by a descending plug through a tapering aperture.
b. (See quot. 1962.)
1899Daily News 14 June 9/1 In the blowing of the opal glass surface of the ‘blank’ a blister or bubble may be caused. 1962Gloss. Terms Glass Ind. (B.S.I.) 23 Blank, any article of glass on which subsequent processing is required.
c. Electric recording. (See quot.)
1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 94/2 Blank, the shaved wax ready for placing on a recording machine for making wax records with a stylus.
10. The 1/230400 of a grain.
1680Morden Geog. Rect. (1685) 279 The Monyers Divide the Perit into 24 Blanks. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Weights, The Moneyers subdivide the grain thus: 24 Blanks make 1 Perrot; 20 Perrots 1 Dwit; 24 Dwits 1 Mite; 20 Mites 1 grain.
11. In the game of dominoes: A piece which is without points on one or both of its divisions.
12. a. A dash written in place of an omitted letter or word. Thus, ― ― Esq. of ― Hall, read Blank Blank Esquire of Blank Hall. Cf. dash.
1773Goldsmith Stoops to Conq. v. 106 Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire, of blank place. 1818Scott Rob Roy xi, A dispensation..to Diana Vernon to marry Blank Osbaldistone, Esq. 1836Dickens Pickw. xxiv. 251 Here's my authority. Blank Tupman, blank Pickwick—against the peace of our sufferin Lord the King. 1861Two Cosmos II. iv. ix. 83 She was married, though—blank—years younger than Miss Lambert. 1888Co-operative News 24 Mar. 266 Our adjoining neighbours at blank—the place shall be nameless. 1968Listener 4 Apr. 445/2 It was not practicable to print anecdotes week after week about Lord Blank's personality and foolish views.
b. Used euphemistically as a verbal representation of a dash put instead of an oath or profane word. Cf. blank v. 5 c. So (as adjs. or advs.) blankety |ˈblæŋkɪtɪ|, which represents an adj. derivative, such as bloody; less freq. blanked |blæŋkt|, blanky |ˈblæŋkɪ|.
1854‘C. Bede’ Further Adv. Verdant Green iv. 28, I wouldn't give a blank for such a blank blank. I'm blank, if he doesn't look as if he'd swallowed a blank codfish. 1874M. Clarke His Natural Life II. iii. xiii. 236 ‘My blank!’ cried Burgess. ‘You blank blank, is that your blank game? I'll blank soon cure you of that!’ 1876B. Harte Gabriel Conroy vi. vi, Blank me, if she was inclined to show some attention to Colonel Starbottle. Ibid. vii, But what in blank are you waiting for? 1886Baumann Londinismen 11/1 Blanked. 1888Troy Daily Times 3 Feb. (Farmer), He had known vessels to be hindered thirty days; yes, even three months, by that blankety blankety bar! 1892Photogr. Ann. II. 42 The blankety blankness that ensues when the tyro..finds that he has forgotten..his tripod top, &c.! 1896Daily News 15 Feb. 5/1 He.. is called ‘a blanky capitalist’. 1900Westm. Gaz. 25 May 2/2 Then he lay back, swearing at the blankety blank young blanker. 1900H. Lawson On Track 31 And do you think I'd tell you a blanky lie? Ibid. 40 ‘What does he want to do that for?’ ‘To get it blanky well analysed! You ass!’ 1902― Children of Bush 12 Let 'em go to ―! I'm blanked if I give a sprat. 1908M. Diver Great Amulet xviii, Colonel Stanham Buckley..inquired picturesquely of a passing official when the blank this blankety blank train was supposed to start. 1914W. J. Locke Fortunate Youth i, What cared he for the blankety little blanks who gibed at him? 1952A. Grimble Pattern of Islands 8 Never springing a blanky leak anywhere. 1959in N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 345 Mailer? He's an incorrigible blank.
13. A zero score in a game. U.S.
1867Ball Players' Chron. 6 June 2/2 Sharp fielding should have disposed of the Harvards for a blank. 1888Outing (U.S.) May 119/2 The tenth innings had seen both sides retire for blanks.
14. Short for blank cartridge (see blank a. 10).
1896Kipling Seven Seas 202 For it's ‘Three rounds blank’ an' follow me. 1935N. Marsh Enter Murderer iv. 52 The report comes from the wings. A blank was never used on the stage, as it would have scorched Surbonadier's clothes.
▪ III. blank, v.|blæŋk|
Forms: 6 blanck(e, 6–7 blanke, 6– blank.
[f. prec. Cf. ONFr. blankir, -quir, F. blanchir, OCat. blanquir to make white.]
The senses are mixed up with those of blanch v.1 and v.2, and blench, blenk, blink.
†1. trans. To make white, whiten; to make pale.
1483Caxton G. de la Tour liv, A baronnesse..the whiche as men saide blanked and popped or peynted her self. 1605Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. (1621) 119 His brow Was never blankt with pallid fear. 1652Benlowes Theoph. ix. li, The coral die is blankt at lips so red.
2. To put out of countenance; to nonplus, disconcert, ‘shut up.’ Cf. blank a. 5. arch.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark xii. 28 The Saduceis were put to a foyle and blanked. 1587Golding De Mornay xxix. 464 At this R. Eliezer was blankt and held his peace. 1611Cotgr., Bejaune..a doult, noddie; one that's blankt, and hath nought to say, when hee hath most need to speak. Ibid., Confuter vn tesmoing, to disgrace, confound, puzle, blanke him; to put him out of countenance, or, driue him to a Non-plus. 1653Urquhart Rabelais (1807) I. 179 If I do not blank and gravel you..and put you to a non plus. 1820Scott Abbot xviii, Which fairly blanked the bold visage of Adam Woodcock.
3. a. To frustrate, make void, invalidate, bring to nought, disconcert (plans, etc.). arch.
1566T. Stapleton Ret. Untr. Jewell, iv. 104 To dasel the Readers eyes withall, or to blancke his..Argument. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (1862) 536/1 All former purposes were blancked. a1659Cleveland To Ald. Hoyle 8 And thus..blanks the Reckning with their Host. 1814Scott Wav. II. i, Their sports blanked by the untoward accident.
b. To dismiss (a sports team) without a score; to prevent from scoring. N. Amer.
1870N.Y. Herald 2 July 5/4 St. John..again blanked the Mutuals and then scored two. 1887Courier-Jrnl. 26 May 2/6 In the eighth and ninth innings both [baseball] teams were blanked. 1951Amer. Speech XXVI. 230 Michigan Normal blanks Ball State. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Feb. 18/7 Oakville Oaks came up with their best effort of the season last night to blank Toronto Marlboros 3–0.
†4. To turn away. Obs. (Cf. blanch v.2 4.)
1640Yorke Union Hon. 49 This unexpected aversion..blanckt the Scots. 1659Gauden Tears Ch. 139 Nor are people to be blanked or scared from any thing which they list to call their Religion.
5. a. To render blank or void; to veil from sight. Also const. out.
1763–5Churchill Gotham iii. Poems II. 20 When dreary Night..blank'd half the Globe. 1881M. E. Braddon Asph. III. 331 An obelisk..blanking out earth and heaven with its gigantic form. 1937Times 16 Apr. 8/6 A smoke screen by howitzers to blank out hostile observation posts and machine-guns.
b. To indicate by a blank or dash (―).
1789Bentham Wks. X. 189 Dele Foxical, I doubt it is hardly safe; or blank it thus F―ical.
¶c. Blank (often printed ―, but read ‘blank’) is also, for decorum's sake, substituted for a word of execration.
1873C. Reade Simpleton xxiii. Blank him! that is just like him; the uneasy fool! 1878A. Edwardes Jet iii. 272 ‘― the colonel of the regiment!’ exclaims Mark..‘Blank the colonel of the regiment!’ With slow unmistakable gusto she lingers over the monosyllable ‘Blank.’
d. To seal or render inoperative. Const. off, up.
1928Daily Tel. 6 Mar. 5/6 The steam inlet and exhaust passages are blanked up and the cylinder subjected to a hydraulic pressure. 1932Amer. Speech VII. 264 Blank off, to case off (a portion of an oil sand). 1940[see blank flange s.v. blank a. 10]. 1963Guardian 7 Mar. 3/2 Three-wheeled vehicles with the reverse gear ‘blanked off’..remain Group ‘A’ vehicles..attracting a higher rate of duty.
e. intr. To become blank or empty.
1955J. Christopher Year of Comet i. 11 The callscreen blanked.
†6. intr. To be disconcerted; to blench; to shrink back. Obs.
1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. xiii. §2 (1669) 49/1 If thou canst..blank no more than a cold suitor doth, when he hears not from her whom he never really loved. 1642Rogers Naaman 423 But these would shed the bloud of such and no whit blanke.
†7. (?) To blanch = to strip off the skin. Obs.
1515J. Robson Scot. Field in Chetham Misc. II, We blancked them with billes, through all their bright armor.
8. Cards. To leave (a card) unsupported by another card of the same suit. Cf. blank a. 7 c.
1884‘Cavendish’ Whist (ed. 14) 100 It is dangerous to unguard an honour, or to blank an ace. 1934Amer. Speech IX. 11/1 A blank King is a King without a guard and to blank a King is to discard its guard.
9. To cut or prepare a blank (see blank n. 9); often const. out. Hence blanked ppl. a., blanking vbl. n.
1914Amer. Machinist 19 Feb. 342/1 The finished articles..are pierced, embossed, bent at a right-angle, and blanked in one operation. Ibid. (European ed.) 28 Mar. 66E/2 Describing their guard [for power presses] the firm classify press operations under blanking, clipping, and raising. 1943F. D. Jones Engineering Encycl. (ed. 2) 136 A blanking die consists essentially of: a die-block..which has an opening that conforms to the shape of the part to be cut or blanked out. 1958C. D. Hanbury Industr. Efficiency Rural Labour viii. 89 Small dish blanking... Strip metal is..fed into the machine, which blanks one disk every time a foot pedal is operated. |