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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Blank

Blänk, a.

adjective

a. [Fr. & Pr. blanc, Sp. blanco, Pg. branco, It. bianco, from Ger. blank, shining, bright, white, Icel. blankr, Dan., Sw., & D. blank, allied to Ger. blinken, to shine, glitter.]

Sense 1. Of a white or pale color. “To the blank moon Her office they prescribed.” Milton.

Sense 2. Hence, pale from fear or terror; confused; confounded; dispirited; dejected.

Adam . . .

Astonied stood, and blank. Milton.

Sense 3. Lacking something usual or essential to completeness; void; empty; as, blank paper; a blank book; a blank wall; a blank ballot.

Sense 4. Without mixture with any thing else; pure; unmingled; mere; as, blank uncertainty. “Blank stupidity.” Percival.

Blank bar (Law), a plea put in to oblige the plaintiff in an action of trespass to assign the certain place where the trespass was committed;—the same as common bar. Bouvier. — Blank cartridge, a cartridge filled with powder, but without ball. — Blank deed, or document of any kind (Law), the customary form of such deed or document, generally in print, with vacant spaces for inserting names, dates, boundaries, or other special matters. — Blank door (Arch.), a depression in a wall made so as to resemble a door. — Blank indorsement (Law), one which omits the name of the person in whose favor it is made; it is usually made by writing the name of the indorser on the back of the bill. Bouvier. — Blank tire (Mech.), a tire without a flange. — Blank verse, verse or poetry without rhyme; particularly the heroic verse of five feet without rhyme. — Blank window, a depression in a wall resembling a window.

Blānk, n.

noun

n. 1. Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument. I can not write a paper full, as I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you. Swift. 2. A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated. In Fortune's lottery lies A heap of blanks, like this, for one small prize. Dryden. 3. A paper unwritten; a paper without marks or characters; a blank ballot. The freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank. Palfrey.

  1. A paper containing the substance of a legal instrument, as a deed, release, writ, or execution, with vacant spaces left to be filled with names, date, descriptions, &c.
  2. The point of a target at which aim is taken, marked with a white spot; hence, the object to which any thing is directed.

Let me still remain the true blank of thine eye. Shak.

  1. Aim; shot. [Obs.] Shak.
  2. A small copper coin formerly current in France, at the rate of 5 deniers Tournois.
  3. (Mech.) A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, a woodscrew, nuts, &c.

Blānk, v. t.

verbtransitive
  1. To make void; to annul. Spenser.
  2. To deprive of color, the index of health and spirits; to damp the spirits; to dispirit or confuse.

“That blanks the face of joy.” Shak.