| blank | 1. Of a white or pale colour; without colour. "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." "The blank . . . Glance of a half returned consciousness." (G. Eliot) 7. Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror. Blank bar, a tire without a flange. Blank tooling. See Blind tooling, under Blind. Blank verse. See Verse. Blank wall, a wall in which there is no opening; a dead wall. Origin: 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. 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. "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. 8. <mechanics> A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts. 9. 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. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| blanket | <physics> A region surrounding a fusion reactor core within which the fusion neutrons (if any) are slowed down, heat is transferred to a primary coolant, and tritium is bred from lithium (if tritium is used as fuel). In hybrid applications, fertile materials (u-238 or Th-232) are located in the blanket for conversion into fissile fuels. (17 Mar 1998) |
| blanket suture | A continuous lock-stitch used to approximate the skin of a wound. (05 Mar 2000) |
| blanketing | 1. Cloth for blankets. 2. The act or punishment of tossing in a blanket. "That affair of the blanketing happened to thee for the fault thou wast guilty of." (Smollett) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |