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Entry 18 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Blank

/blăngk/ · IPA /ˈblæŋk/
01 a. Of a white or pale color; without color.
  1. 1.
    Of a white or pale color; without color.
    “To the blank moon Her office they prescribed.” — Milton.
  2. 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. 3.
    Utterly confounded or discomfited.
    “Adam . . . astonied stood, and blank.” — Milton.
  4. 4.
    Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a blank space; a blank day.
  5. 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. 6.
    Lacking animation and intelligence, or their associated characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.; expressionless; vacant.
    “The blank . . . glance of a half returned consciousness.” — G. Eliot.
  7. 7.
    Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror.
Phrases & compounds
Blank bar — 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 — 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 — 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 — a vacant space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a line of quadrats.
Blank tire — 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.
02 n. Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument; an interval void of consciousness, action, result, etc; a void.
  1. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 6.
    Aim; shot; range.[Obs.]
    “I have stood . . . within the blank of his displeasure For my free speech.” — Shak.
  7. 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. 8.
    A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts.(Mech.)
  9. 9.
    A piece or division of a piece, without spots; as, the “double blank”; the “six blank.”(Dominoes)
Phrases & compounds
In blank — with an essential portion to be supplied by another; as, to make out a check in blank.
03 v. t. To make void; to annul.
imp. & p. p. Blanked; p. pr. & vb. n. Blanking
  1. 1.
    To make void; to annul.[Obs.]
  2. 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.