blanket

Etymology

From Middle English blanket, blonket, blaunket, from Old Northern French blanket, blancet (“white horse", also "white woollen cloth or flannel; a type of jacket”, literally “that which is white”) (whence Modern French blanchet), diminutive of blanc (“white”), of Germanic origin, likely a calque of Old English hwītel (“cloak, mantle”), from Old English hwīt (“white”) + -el (diminutive suffix). Compare also Old English blanca (“white horse”), Old Norse hvítill (“a white bed-cover, sheet”). More at blank. Compare also blunket, plunket. Displaced native Middle English whytel, from Old English hwītel (whence Modern English whittle (“blanket, cloak, shawl”)).

noun

1. A heavy, loosely woven fabric, usually large and woollen, used for warmth while sleeping or resting.
   The baby was cold, so his mother put a blanket over him.
2. A layer of anything.
   The city woke under a thick blanket of fog.
   In this case, the excavations were carried down to a depth of 3 ft. 9 in. below rail level, and pre-cast concrete slabs were laid between a 12 in. blanket of quarry waste and the ballast. 1948 March and April, “Noes and News: Slab Blanketing at Clapham Junction”, in Railway Magazine, page 131
3. A thick rubber mat used in the offset printing process to transfer ink from the plate to the paper being printed.
   A press operator must carefully wash the blanket whenever changing a plate.
4. A streak or layer of blubber in whales.

adj

1. General; covering or encompassing everything.
   Another observer offered a less blanket criticism. 1994, Deborah Dash Moore, To the Golden Cities
   Some others appear to be adopting a more blanket approach 2009, Gayle Letherby, Kate Williams, Philip Birch, Sex as Crime, page 57
   Disenchanted with socialism, they unleashed free enterprise (or tried to) and backed it up with a more-or-less blanket endorsement of the old ways. 2010, Jay Cassell, The Best Hunting Stories Ever Told, page 428
   By contrast, any emotional or motivational explanation of autism would seem to predict too blanket a degree of social disinterest. 2013, Eric Schopler, Gary B. Mesibov, Learning and Cognition in Autism, page 187
   The second reason offered for blanket nonprosecutions for crimes committed at the megabanks involves the possibility that such prosecutions could harm the economy. 2017, Mary Kreiner Ramirez, Steven A. Ramirez, The Case for the Corporate Death Penalty, page 207
   Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday wrote to his counterparts in Delhi, Haryana, Odisha and Rajasthan urging them to reconsider the blanket ban on sale of firecrackers in their respective States. 15 October 2021, “Stalin writes to four States CMs against blanket ban on firecrackers”, in The Hindu

verb

1. (transitive) To cover with, or as if with, a blanket.
   A fresh layer of snow blanketed the area.
2. (transitive) To traverse or complete thoroughly.
   The salesman blanketed the entire neighborhood.
3. (transitive) To toss in a blanket by way of punishment.
4. (transitive) To take the wind out of the sails of (another vessel) by sailing to windward of it.
5. (transitive) To nullify the impact of (someone or something).
6. Of a radio signal: to override or block out another radio signal.