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.]
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, ∨ 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.
© Webster 1913.
Blank (?), n. 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.
© Webster 1913.
Blank, v. t. [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.
© Webster 1913. | 
