blanch

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

blanch, v. t. [OE. blanchen, blaunchen, F. blanchir, fr. blanc white. See Blank, a.].

•  To take the color out of, and make white; to bleach; as, to blanch linen; age has blanched his hair.  [1913 Webster]
•  To bleach by excluding the light, as the stalks or leaves of plants, by earthing them up or tying them together.  [1913 Webster]
•  To make white by removing the skin of, as by scalding; as, to blanch almonds.  [1913 Webster]
•  To give a white luster to (silver, before stamping, in the process of coining.).  [1913 Webster]
•  To cover (sheet iron) with a coating of tin.  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: To whiten; to give a favorable appearance to; to whitewash; to palliate.  [1913 Webster]

  "Blanch over the blackest and most absurd things."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To Blanch, Whiten.

blanch, v. i. 

 To grow or become white; as, his cheek blanched with fear; the rose blanches in the sun.  [1913 Webster]
"[Bones] blanching on the grass."  [1913 Webster]

blanch, v. t. [See Blench.].

•  To avoid, as from fear; to evade; to leave unnoticed.  [1913 Webster]

  "Ifs and ands to qualify the words of treason, whereby every man might express his malice and blanch his danger."  [1913 Webster]

  "I suppose you will not blanch Paris in your way."  [1913 Webster]
•  To cause to turn aside or back; as, to blanch a deer.  [1913 Webster]

blanch, v. i. 

 To use evasion.  [1913 Webster]
"Books will speak plain, when counselors blanch."  [1913 Webster]

blanch, n. 

 Ore, not in masses, but mixed with other minerals.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

blanch, v.
1 tr. make white or pale by extracting colour.
2 intr. & tr. grow or make pale from shock, fear, etc.
3 tr. Cookery a peel (almonds etc.) by scalding. b immerse (vegetables or meat) briefly in boiling water.
4 tr. whiten (a plant) by depriving it of light.

Idiom

blanch over give a deceptively good impression of (a fault etc.) by misrepresentation.

Etymology

ME f. OF blanchir f. blanc white, BLANK

THESAURUS

blanch

ache, achromatize, agonize, ail, anguish, bake, barbecue, baste, besnow, bleach, bleach out, blench, blush, boil, braise, brew, broil, brown, chalk, change color, coddle, color, cook, crimson, curry, darken, decolor, decolorize, devil, dim, discolor, do, do to perfection, drain, drain of color, dull, etiolate, fade, fade out, feel pain, feel the pangs, fire, flinch, flush, fricassee, frizz, frizzle, frost, fry, fume, glow, griddle, grill, grimace, grizzle, grow pale, have a misery, heat, hurt, look black, lose color, mantle, oven-bake, pale, pan, pan-broil, parboil, peroxide, poach, pound, prepare, prepare food, quail, redden, roast, saute, scallop, sear, shirr, shoot, shrink, silver, simmer, smart, squinch, start, steam, stew, stir-fry, suffer, tarnish, thrill, throb, tone down, turn color, turn pale, turn red, turn white, twinge, twitch, wan, wash out, white, whiten, wince, writhe

ROGET THESAURUS

blanch

Achromatism

VB lose color, fade, fly, go, become colorless, turn pale, pale, deprive of color, decolorize, bleach, tarnish, achromatize, blanch, etiolate, wash out, tone down.

Whiteness

VB be white, render white, whiten, bleach, blanch, etiolate, whitewash, silver.