blank

Etymology

From Middle English blank, blonc, blaunc, blaunche, from Anglo-Norman blonc, blaunc, blaunche, from Old French blanc, feminine blanche, from Frankish *blank (“gleaming, white, blinding”), from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“white, bright, blinding”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”). Akin to Old High German blanch (“shining, bright, white”) (German blank), Old English blanc (“white, grey”), blanca (“white steed”), Spanish blanco. More at blink, blind, blanch. Doublet of blanc.

adj

1. (archaic) White or pale; without colour.
2. Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in
   blank paper
   a blank check
   a blank ballot
   a blank CD
   Referee Michael Oliver failed to detect a foul in a crowded box and the Canaries escaped down the tunnel with the scoreline still blank. December 27, 2011, Mike Henson, “Norwich 0 - 2 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport
3. (figurative) Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform.
   a blank desert; a blank wall; blank unconsciousness
4. Absolute; downright; sheer.
   There was a look of blank terror on his face.
   a blank refusal to cooperate
5. Without expression, usually due to incomprehension.
   Failing to understand the question, he gave me a blank stare.
6. Utterly confounded or discomfited.
7. Empty; void; without result; fruitless.
   a blank day
8. Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration.
   The shock left his memory blank.
9. (military) Of ammunition: having propellant but no bullets; unbulleted.
   The recruits were issued with blank rounds for a training exercise.

noun

1. (archaic, historical, obsolete) A small French coin, originally of silver, afterwards of copper, worth 5 deniers; also a silver coin of Henry V current in the parts of France then held by the English, worth about 8 pence .
   Whosoeuer brought a fagot before the kynges tent, he shulde haue a blanke of Fraunce. 1523, Jean Froissart, transl. by John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, Cronycles of Englande, Fraunce etc.
2. (obsolete) A nonplus [16th century].
3. The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figurative) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim .
   Des. […] And stood within the blank of his displeasure / For my free speech! (Act III, scene 11) 1603, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
   Kent. See better, Lear, and let me still remain / The true blank of thine eye. (Act I, scene 2) 1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear
4. A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated [since the 16th century].
5. An empty space; a void, for example on a paper .
   1. A space to be filled in on a form or template.
      Write your answers in the blanks.
   2. Provisional words printed in italics (instead of blank spaces) in a bill before Parliament, being matters of practical detail, of which the final form will be settled in Committee .
6. (now chiefly US) A document, paper, or form with spaces left blank to be filled up at the pleasure of the person to whom it is given (e.g. a blank charter, ballot, form, contract, etc.), or as the event may determine; a blank form .
   1. An empty form without substance; anything insignificant; nothing at all .
   2. An unprinted leaf of a book [20th century].
7. (literature) Blank verse .
8. (mechanics, engineering) A piece of metal or wood cut and shaped to the required size of the thing to be made, and ready for the finishing operations; (coining) the disc of metal before stamping .
   1. Any article of glass on which subsequent processing is required [since the 19th century].
   2. (electric recording) The shaved wax ready for placing on a recording machine for making wax records with a stylus [20th century].
9. (figurative) A vacant space, place, or period; a void [since the 17th century].
10. The ¹ / ₂₃₀₄₀₀ of a grain [17th century].
11. An empty space in one's memory; a forgotten item or memory [since the 18th century].
    My head is so ill that I cannot write a paper full as I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you. 1736, Jonathan Swift, Letters
    From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation. 1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages
    “I was ill. I can't tell how long — it was a blank. […]” 1863, George Eliot, Romola
12. A dash written in place of an omitted letter or word [since the 18th century]
13. The space character; the character resulting from pressing the space bar on a keyboard.
14. (dominoes) A domino without points on one or both of its divisions.
    the double blank
    the six blank
15. (firearms) Short for blank cartridge. [since the 19th century].
    It was an unloaded gun that fired only blanks.
16. (figurative, in the expression ‘shooting blanks’, sports) An ineffective effort which achieves nothing [since the 20th century].
    1. (chemistry) A sample for a control experiment that does not contain any of the analyte of interest, in order to deliberately produce a non-detection to verify that a detection is distinguishable from it.
    2. (slang) Infertile semen.

verb

1. (transitive) To make void; to erase.
   I blanked out my previous entry.
2. (transitive, slang) To ignore (a person) deliberately.
   She blanked me for no reason.
3. (transitive, aviation, of a control surface) To render ineffective by blanketing with turbulent airflow, such as from aircraft wake or reverse thrust.
   At high angles of attack, the shuttle's rudder is blanked by the fuselage and wings, forcing it to use its RCS thrusters for yaw control.
4. (transitive) To prevent from scoring; for example, in a sporting event.
   The team was blanked.
   England blanks Wales to advance to the final.
5. (intransitive) To become blank.
   In OPS 6, the 2 EO color field does blank at SSME fine count. Once in fine count in route to an RTLS MECO, the energy state is such that one engine can carry the orbiter though powered pitch-down to a healthy MECO condition with standard RTLS guidance. 14 February 2007, NASA, “4.5.2 Two-Engine-Out Contingency Software Termination”, in Contingency Aborts 21007/31007, archived from the original on 2022-03-08, page 45
6. (intransitive) To be temporarily unable to remember.
   I'm blanking on her name right now.