blank

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

blank, a. [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.].

•  Of a white or pale color; without color.  [1913 Webster]

  "To the blank moon
  Her office they prescribed."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  Utterly confounded or discomfited.  [1913 Webster]

  "Adam . . . astonied stood, and blank."  [1913 Webster]
•  Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a blank space; a blank day.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  Lacking animation and intelligence, or their associated characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.; expressionless; vacant.  C. Kingsley.  [1913 Webster]

  "The blank . . . glance of a half returned consciousness."  [1913 Webster]
•  Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror.  [1913 Webster]

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.

blank, n. 

•  Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument; an interval void of consciousness, action, result, etc; a void.  [1913 Webster]

  "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."  [1913 Webster]

  "From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation."  [1913 Webster]

  "I was ill. I can't tell how long -- it was a blank."  [1913 Webster]
•  A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated.  [1913 Webster]

  "In Fortune's lottery lies
  A heap of blanks, like this, for one small prize."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "The freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  The point aimed at in a target, marked with a white spot; hence, the object to which anything is directed.  [1913 Webster]

  "Let me still remain
  The true blank of thine eye."  [1913 Webster]
•  Aim; shot; range.  [1913 Webster]

  "I have stood . . . within the blank of his displeasure
  For my free speech."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts.  [1913 Webster]
•  A piece or division of a piece, without spots; as, the “double blank”; the “six blank.”  [1913 Webster]

In blank, with an essential portion to be supplied by another; as, to make out a check in blank.

blank, v. t. [Cf. 3d Blanch.].

•  To make void; to annul.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  To blanch; to make blank; to damp the spirits of; to dispirit or confuse.  [1913 Webster]

  "Each opposite that blanks the face of joy."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

blank, adj., n., & v.
--adj.
1 a (of paper) not written or printed on. b (of a document) with spaces left for a signature or details.
2 a not filled; empty (a blank space). b unrelieved; sheer (a blank wall).
3 a having or showing no interest or expression (a blank face). b void of incident or result. c puzzled, nonplussed. d having (temporarily) no knowledge or understanding (my mind went blank).
4 (with neg. import) complete, downright (a blank refusal; blank despair).
5 euphem. used in place of an adjective regarded as coarse or abusive.
--n.
1 a a space left to be filled in a document. b a document having blank spaces to be filled.
2 (in full blank cartridge) a cartridge containing gunpowder but no bullet, used for training, etc.
3 an empty space or period of time.
4 a a coin-disc before stamping. b a metal or wooden block before final shaping.
5 a a dash written instead of a word or letter, esp. instead of an obscenity. b euphem. used in place of a noun regarded as coarse.
6 a domino with one or both halves blank.
7 a lottery ticket that gains no prize.
8 the white centre of the target in archery etc.
--v.tr.
1 (usu. foll. by off, out) screen, obscure (clouds blanked out the sun).
2 (usu. foll. by out) cut (a metal blank).
3 US defeat without allowing to score.

Idiom

blank cheque
1 a cheque with the amount left for the payee to fill in.
2 colloq. unlimited freedom of action (cf. CARTE BLANCHE). blank test Chem. a scientific test done without a specimen, to verify the absence of the effects of reagents etc. blank verse unrhymed verse, esp. iambic pentameters. draw a blank elicit no response; fail.

Derivative

blankly adv. blankness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF blanc white, ult. f. Gmc

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

blank

Inexistence

N inexistence, nonexistence, nonsubsistence, nonentity, nil, negativeness, nullity, nihility, nihilism, tabula rasa, blank, abeyance, absence, no such thing, nonbeing, nothingness, oblivion, annihilation, extinction, extinguishment, extirpation, Nirvana, obliteration, inexistent, nonexistent, negative, blank, missing, omitted, absent, insubstantial, shadowy, spectral, visionary, unreal, potential, virtual, baseless, in nubibus, unsubstantial, vain, unborn, uncreated, unbegotten, unconceived, unproduced, unmade, perished, annihilated extinct, exhausted, gone, lost, vanished, departed, gone with the wind, defunct, fabulous, ideal, supposititious &c, negatively, virtually, non ens, inexistence, nonexistence, nonsubsistence, nonentity, nil, negativeness, nullity, nihility, nihilism, tabula rasa, blank, abeyance, absence, no such thing, nonbeing, nothingness, oblivion, annihilation, extinction, extinguishment, extirpation, Nirvana, obliteration, inexistent, nonexistent, negative, blank, missing, omitted, absent, insubstantial, shadowy, spectral, visionary, unreal, potential, virtual, baseless, in nubibus, unsubstantial, vain, unborn, uncreated, unbegotten, unconceived, unproduced, unmade, perished, annihilated extinct, exhausted, gone, lost, vanished, departed, gone with the wind, defunct, fabulous, ideal, supposititious &c, negatively, virtually, non ens.

Unsubstantiality

N unsubstantiality, insubstantiality, nothingness, nihility, no degree, no part, no quantity, no thing, nothing, naught, nil, nullity, zero, cipher, no one, nobody, never a one, ne'er a one, no such thing, none in the world, nothing whatever, nothing at all, nothing on earth, not a particle, all talk, moonshine, stuff and nonsense, matter of no importance, matter of no consequence, thing of naught, man of straw, John Doe and Richard Roe, faggot voter, nominis umbra, nonentity, flash in the pan, vox et praeterea nihil, shadow, phantom, dream, ignis fatuus, such stuff as dreams are made of, air, thin air, vapor, bubble, baseless fabric of a vision, mockery, hollowness, blank, void, inanity, fool's paradise, unsubstantial, baseless, groundless, ungrounded, without foundation, having no foundation, visionary, immaterial, spectral, dreamy, shadowy, ethereal, airy, cloud built, cloud formed, gossamery, illusory, insubstantial, unreal, vacant, vacuous, empty, eviscerated, blank, hollow, nominal, null, inane, there's nothing in it, an ocean of dreams without a sound, unsubstantiality, insubstantiality, nothingness, nihility, no degree, no part, no quantity, no thing, nothing, naught, nil, nullity, zero, cipher, no one, nobody, never a one, ne'er a one, no such thing, none in the world, nothing whatever, nothing at all, nothing on earth, not a particle, all talk, moonshine, stuff and nonsense, matter of no importance, matter of no consequence, thing of naught, man of straw, John Doe and Richard Roe, faggot voter, nominis umbra, nonentity, flash in the pan, vox et praeterea nihil, shadow, phantom, dream, ignis fatuus, such stuff as dreams are made of, air, thin air, vapor, bubble, baseless fabric of a vision, mockery, hollowness, blank, void, inanity, fool's paradise, unsubstantial, baseless, groundless, ungrounded, without foundation, having no foundation, visionary, immaterial, spectral, dreamy, shadowy, ethereal, airy, cloud built, cloud formed, gossamery, illusory, insubstantial, unreal, vacant, vacuous, empty, eviscerated, blank, hollow, nominal, null, inane, there's nothing in it, an ocean of dreams without a sound.

Impotence

N impotence, inability, disability, disablement, impuissance, imbecility, incapacity, incapability, inaptitude, ineptitude, incompetence, unproductivity, indocility, invalidity, disqualification, inefficiency, wastefulness, telum imbelle, brutum fulmen, blank, blank cartridge, flash in the pan, vox et proeterea nihil, dead letter, bit of waste paper, dummy, paper tiger, Quaker gun, inefficacy, failure, helplessness, prostration, paralysis, palsy, apoplexy, syncope, sideration, deliquium, collapse, exhaustion, softening of the brain, inanition, emasculation, orchiotomy, orchotomy, cripple, old woman, muff, powder puff, creampuff, pussycat, wimp, mollycoddle, eunuch, powerless, impotent, unable, incapable, incompetent, inefficient, ineffective, inept, unfit, unfitted, unqualified, disqualified, unendowed, inapt, unapt, crippled, disabled, armless, harmless, unarmed, weaponless, defenseless, sine ictu, unfortified, indefensible, vincible, pregnable, untenable, paralytic, paralyzed, palsied, imbecile, nerveless, sinewless, marrowless, pithless, lustless, emasculate, disjointed, out of joint, out of gear, unnerved, unhinged, water-logged, on one's beam ends, rudderless, laid on one's back, done up, dead beat, exhausted, shattered, demoralized, graveled, helpless, unfriended, fatherless, without a leg to stand on, hors de combat, laid on the shelf, null and void, nugatory, inoperative, good for nothing, ineffectual, inadequate, inefficacious, der kranke Mann, desirous still but impotent to rise, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.