English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English blank, blonc, blaunc, blaunche, from Anglo-Norman blonc, blaunc, blaunche, from Old French blanc, feminine blanche, from Frankish *blank (“gleaming, white, blinding”), from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“white, bright, blinding”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”). Akin to Old High German blanch (“shining, bright, white”) (German blank), Old English blanc (“white, grey”), blanca (“white steed”), Spanish blanco. More at blink, blind, blanch. Doublet of blanc.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
blank (comparative blanker or more blank, superlative blankest or most blank)
-
(archaic) White or pale; without colour.
1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 656–657:To the blanc Moone / Her office they preſcrib'd,
- Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in
- blank paper
- a blank check
- a blank ballot
- a blank CD
2011 December 27, Mike Henson, “Norwich 0 - 2 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport[1]:Referee Michael Oliver failed to detect a foul in a crowded box and the Canaries escaped down the tunnel with the scoreline still blank.
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(figuratively) Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform.
- a blank desert; a blank wall; blank unconsciousness
- Absolute; downright; sheer.
- There was a look of blank terror on his face.
- a blank refusal to cooperate
- Without expression.
- Failing to understand the question, he gave me a blank stare.
- Utterly confounded or discomfited.
1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 888–890:Adam […] Aſtonied ſtood and Blank,
- Empty; void; without result; fruitless.
a blank day
- Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration.
The shock left his memory blank.
-
(military) Of ammunition: having propellant but no bullets; unbulleted.
The recruits were issued with blank rounds for a training exercise.
Descendants[edit]
Translations[edit]
free from writing, printing or marks
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- Italian: in bianco (it), vuoto (it), intatto (it), vergine (it)
- Ngazidja Comorian: -eu
- Norwegian: blank
- Polish: czysty (pl) m, pusty (pl) m, niewypełniony m, niezapisany m, niezadrukowany m
- Portuguese: em branco (pt), virgem (pt)
- Romanian: nescris (ro) m or n, curat (ro) m or n, necompletat m or n
- Russian: чи́стый (ru) (čístyj), пусто́й (ru) (pustój), неиспи́санный (neispísannyj), незапо́лненный (ru) (nezapólnennyj)
- Sinhalese: හිස්තැන (histæna)
- Spanish: en blanco, virgen (es)
- Swedish: blank (sv), tom (sv)
- Vietnamese: trống (vi), trắng (vi), để trống, để trắng
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blank (plural blanks)
-
(archaic, historical, obsolete) A small French coin, originally of silver, afterwards of copper, worth 5 deniers; also a silver coin of Henry V current in the parts of France then held by the English, worth about 8 pence [15th–17th century].
-
(obsolete) A nonplus [16th century].
- The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim [since the 16th century].
- A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated [since the 16th century].
- An empty space; a void, for example on a paper [since the 16th century].
- A space to be filled in on a form or template.
- Write your answers in the blanks.
-
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 [since the 19th century].
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(now chiefly US) 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, ballot, form, contract, etc.), or as the event may determine; a blank form [since the 16th century].
1859, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England[4], volume 1: […] and the freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank.
- An empty form without substance; anything insignificant; nothing at all [since the 17th century].
- An unprinted leaf of a book [20th century].
-
(literature) Blank verse [since the 16th century].
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(mechanics, engineering) A piece of metal (such as a coin, screw, nuts), cut and shaped to the required size of the thing to be made, and ready for the finishing operations; (coining) the disc of metal before stamping [since the 16th century].
- Any article of glass on which subsequent processing is required [since the 19th century].
-
(electric recording) The shaved wax ready for placing on a recording machine for making wax records with a stylus [20th century].
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(figuratively) A vacant space, place, or period; a void [since the 17th century].
c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iv], page 263, column 1:Du. And what's her hiſtory?
Vio. A blanke my Lord:
- The 1 / 230400 of a grain [17th century].
- An empty space in one's memory; a forgotten item or memory [since the 18th century].
1736, Jonathan Swift, Letters[5]:My head is so ill that 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.
1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages[6]:From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation.
- A dash written in place of an omitted letter or word [since the 18th century]
- The space character; the character resulting from pressing the space-bar on a keyboard.
-
(dominoes) A domino without points on one or both of its divisions.
- the double blank
- the six blank
-
(firearms) Short for blank cartridge. [since the 19th century].
- It was an unloaded gun that fired only blanks.
-
(figuratively, in the expression ‘shooting blanks’, sports) An ineffective effort which achieves nothing [since the 20th century].
-
(chemistry) A sample for a control experiment that does not contain any of the analyte of interest, in order to deliberately produce a non-detection to verify that a detection is distinguishable from it.
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(slang) Infertile semen.
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
kind of base silver money
piece or division of a piece
blank (third-person singular simple present blanks, present participle blanking, simple past and past participle blanked)
-
(transitive) To make void; to erase.
- I blanked out my previous entry.
-
(transitive, slang) To ignore (a person) deliberately.
- She blanked me for no reason.
-
(transitive, aviation, of a control surface) To render ineffective by blanketing with turbulent airflow, such as from aircraft wake or reverse thrust.
At high angles of attack, the shuttle's rudder is blanked by the fuselage and wings, forcing it to use its RCS thrusters for yaw control.
-
(transitive) To prevent from scoring, for example in a sporting event.
- The team was blanked.
- England blanks Wales to advance to the final.
-
(intransitive) To become blank.
-
(intransitive) To be temporarily unable to remember.
- I'm blanking on her name right now.
Usage notes[edit]
Translations[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from the adjective, noun, or verb blank
Afrikaans[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Dutch blank.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
blank (attributive blanke, comparative blanker, superlative blankste)
- white
-
White; Caucasian
Antonyms[edit]
Dalmatian[edit]
Adjective[edit]
blank m (plural blanke, feminine blanka)
- Alternative form of blanc
Adjective[edit]
blank
-
shiny, reflective, glossy
- Antonym: mat
-
(of e.g. paper) empty, blank, bearing no inscription or drawings
-
(colloquial) broke (without money)
- Synonym: flad
-
(colloquial) ignorant, clueless
Inflection[edit]
References[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle Dutch blanc, from Old Dutch *blank, from Proto-Germanic *blankaz.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
blank (comparative blanker, superlative blankst)
-
white, pale
-
white (having a light skin tone)
Inflection[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle High German blanc, from Old High German blanc (“shining, bright”), from Proto-Germanic *blankaz. Doublet of Plenk.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
blank (comparative blanker, superlative am blanksten)
-
(archaic) bright
-
spotlessly clean; shining; polished
Du musst die Platte blank scheuern.- You must rub the platter until it is shining.
-
bare; naked; uncovered
mit blankem Hintern ― with one’s behind uncovered
-
pure; sheer
Blanke Wut packte ihn.- Sheer anger seized him.
-
(colloquial) broke; out of money
-
(card games) being a player’s last one of a respective grouping of cards (which means that the card is unprotected when the player must follow suit in trick-taking games)
Hätte ich Trumpf ausgespielt, wäre mein Fuchs blank gewesen.- If I had played trump, my “fox” [ace of diamonds in Doppelkopf] would have been my last trump card.
Declension[edit]
Comparative forms of blank
Superlative forms of blank
Derived terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
Norwegian Bokmål[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle Low German blank.
Adjective[edit]
blank (masculine and feminine blank, neuter blankt, definite singular and plural blanke, comparative blankere, indefinite superlative blankest, definite superlative blankeste)
-
glossy, shining, shiny
-
bright, clear, glittering, sunny
-
blank (e.g. cheque, paper, mind)
Derived terms[edit]
References[edit]
-
“blank” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
-
“blank_1” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
blank (masculine and feminine blank, neuter blankt, definite singular and plural blanke, comparative blankare, indefinite superlative blankast, definite superlative blankaste)
-
shiny, reflective
-
Dei pussa sølvtøyet så det vart blankt.
- They shined the silver until it was shiny.
-
exactly, point zero (of time)
-
Han sprang 100 meter på ti blank.
- He ran 100 meters in ten point zero seconds.
-
blank, empty
-
Ho gav dottera eit blankt ark til å teikna på.
- She gave her daughter a blank piece of paper to draw on.
- without knowledge about something
-
Eg er heilt blank om dette temaet.
- I know nothing about this subject.
References[edit]
Plautdietsch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle Low German blank, from Old Saxon blank, from Proto-West Germanic *blank.
Adjective[edit]
blank
-
shiny, lustrous, glittering
Swedish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle Low German blank, from Old Saxon blank, from Proto-West Germanic *blank. Displaced native Swedish black, from Old Norse blakkr.
Adjective[edit]
blank (comparative blankare, superlative blankast)
-
reflective, shiny
- smooth
Inflection[edit]
