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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Blank \Blank\, adjective [OE. blank, blonc, blaunc, blaunche, fr. F. blanc, fem. blanche, fr. OHG. blanch shining, bright, white, G. blank; akin to E. blink, cf. also AS. blanc white. ?98. See {Blink}, and cf. 1st {Blanch}.]
1. Of a white or pale color; without color.
To the blank moon Her office they prescribed. --Milton.
2. Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in with some special writing; -- said of checks, official documents, etc.; as, blank paper; a blank check; a blank ballot.
3. Utterly confounded or discomfited.
Adam . . . astonied stood, and blank. --Milton.
4. Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a blank space; a blank day.
5. Lacking characteristics which give variety; as, a blank desert; a blank wall; destitute of interests, affections, hopes, etc.; as, to live a blank existence; destitute of sensations; as, blank unconsciousness.
6. Lacking animation and intelligence, or their associated characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.; expressionless; vacant. ''Blank and horror-stricken faces.'' --C. Kingsley.
The blank . . . glance of a half returned consciousness. --G. Eliot.
7. Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror.
{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; -- called also {common bar}.
{Blank cartridge}, a cartridge containing no ball.
{Blank deed}. See {Deed}.
{Blank door}, or {Blank window} (Arch.), a depression in a wall of the size of a door or window, either for symmetrical effect, or for the more convenient insertion of a door or window at a future time, should it be needed.
{Blank indorsement} (Law), an indorsement which omits the name of the person in whose favor it is made; it is usually made by simply writing the name of the indorser on the back of the bill.
{Blank line} (Print.), a vacant space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a line of quadrats.
{Blank tire} (Mech.), a tire without a flange.
{Blank tooling}. See {Blind tooling}, under {Blind}.
{Blank verse}. See under {Verse}.
{Blank wall}, a wall in which there is no opening; a dead wall.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Blank \Blank\, noun
1. Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument; an interval void of consciousness, action, result, etc; a void.
I can not write a paper full, I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you. --Swift.
From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation. --Hallam.
I was ill. I can't tell how long -- it was a blank. --G. Eliot.
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; -- especially, a paper on which are to be inserted designated items of information, for which spaces are left vacant; a bland form.
The freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank. --Palfrey.
4. A paper containing the substance of a legal instrument, as a deed, release, writ, or execution, with spaces left to be filled with names, date, descriptions, etc.
5. The point aimed at in a target, marked with a white spot; hence, the object to which anything is directed.
Let me still remain The true blank of thine eye. --Shak.
6. Aim; shot; range. [Obs.]
I have stood . . . within the blank of his displeasure For my free speech. --Shak.
7. A kind of base silver money, first coined in England by Henry V., and worth about 8 pence; also, a French coin of the seventeenth century, worth about 4 pence. --Nares.
8. (Mech.) A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts.
9. (Dominoes) A piece or division of a piece, without spots; as, the ''double blank''; the ''six blank.''
{In blank}, with an essential portion to be supplied by another; as, to make out a check in blank.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Blank \Blank\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Blanked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Blanking}.] [Cf. 3d {Blanch}.]
1. To make void; to annul. [Obs.] --Spenser.
2. To blanch; to make blank; to damp the spirits of; to dispirit or confuse. [Obs.]
Each opposite that blanks the face of joy. --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
blank
adjective
1: of a surface; not written or printed on; "blank pages"; "fill in the blank spaces"; "a clean page"; "wide white margins" [syn: {clean}, {white}]
2: void of expression; "a blank stare"
3: not charged with a bullet; "a blank cartridge"
noun
1: a blank character used to separate successive words in writing or printing; "he said the space is the most important character in the alphabet" [syn: {space}]
2: a substitute for a taboo word; "I hit the blank blank car"
3: a blank gap or missing part [syn: {lacuna}]
4: a piece of material ready to be made into something
5: a cartridge containing an explosive charge but no bullet [syn: {dummy}, {blank shell}]
verb: keep the opposing (baseball) team from winning
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
248 Moby Thesaurus words for "blank": Olympian, absence, absolute, aloof, arid, awayness, backward, bald, bare, barren, bashful, bewildered, black, blah, bland, blankminded, bleached, blind, blind-alley, bloodless, box, calm, cecal, characterless, chasm, chilled, chilly, chirograph, choked, choked off, clean slate, clear, closed, cold, colorless, complete, confused, constrained, constricted, contracted, cool, dazed, dead, dead-end, deadpan, deprivation, detached, devoid, discomfited, disconcerted, discreet, dismal, distant, docket, document, dossier, downright, draggy, drearisome, dreary, dry, dryasdust, dull, dusty, effete, elephantine, emotionless, emptiness, empty, empty space, empty-headed, empty-minded, empty-pated, empty-skulled, etiolated, expressionless, fade, fatuous, featureless, file, fishy, flat, forbidding, form, frigid, frosty, glassy, guarded, heavy, helpless, ho-hum, hollow, holograph, icy, impassive, impersonal, inaccessible, inane, inanity, incogitant, inexcitable, inexpressive, insipid, instrument, introverted, jejune, lack, leaden, legal document, legal instrument, legal paper, lifeless, line, low-spirited, mindless, modest, naked, neverness, nil, nirvanic, nonexistence, nonoccurrence, nonplussed, nonpresence, nothing, nothingness, nowhereness, nude, null, null and void, oblivious, official document, offish, out-and-out, overlook, oversight, pale, pallid, paper, papers, parchment, passive, pedestrian, perfect, perplexed, personal file, plain, plodding, pointless, poker-faced, poky, ponderous, preterition, pure, quietistic, rattlebrained, rattleheaded, regular, relaxed, remote, removed, repressed, reserved, restrained, reticent, retiring, roll, scatterbrained, scrip, script, scroll, sheer, shrinking, shut, skip, slow, solemn, space, spiritless, squeezed shut, standoff, standoffish, stark, sterile, stiff, stodgy, straight-out, strangulated, stuffy, subdued, subtraction, superficial, suppressed, tabula rasa, tasteless, tedious, thoughtfree, thoughtless, tranquil, unadorned, unadulterated, unaffable, unapproachable, unarrayed, uncomplicated, uncongenial, undecked, undecorated, undemonstrative, undressed, unembellished, unexpansive, unexpressive, unfurbished, ungarnished, ungenial, unideaed, unintellectual, unlively, unmixed, unoccupied, unopen, unopened, unornamented, unqualified, unreasoning, unrelieved, unsophisticated, unthinking, untrimmed, unvarnished, unvented, unventilated, utter, vacant, vacuous, vacuum, vapid, void, want, white, with nothing inside, withdrawn, without content, wooden, writ, writing, zero
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
BLANK-:VERSE:, noun Unrhymed iambic pentameters -- the most difficult kind of English verse to write acceptably; a kind, therefore, much affected by those who cannot acceptably write any kind.
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