Definition of "blank"

blank

/blæŋk/

adjective
comparative blanker or more blank, superlative blankest or most blank
1. (archaic) White or pale; without colour.
  Quotations
  To the blanc Moone / Her office they preſcrib'd,
  1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 656–657
2. Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in
  Quotations
  Referee Michael Oliver failed to detect a foul in a crowded box and the Canaries escaped down the tunnel with the scoreline still blank.
  2011 December 27, Mike Henson, “Norwich 0 - 2 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport‎
3. (figurative) Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform.
4. Absolute; downright; sheer.
5. Without expression, usually due to incomprehension.
6. Utterly confounded or discomfited.
  Quotations
  Adam […] Aſtonied ſtood and Blank,
  1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 888–890
7. Empty; void; without result; fruitless.
8. Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration.
9. (military) Of ammunition: having propellant but no bullets; unbulleted.
noun
plural blanks
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 .
  Quotations
  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 .
3. (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim .
  Quotations
  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 .
  Quotations
  […] and in Fortune's Lottery lies / A heap of Blanks, like this, for one ſmall Prize.
  1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, Thomas Creech, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], page 257
5. An empty space; a void, for example on a paper .
  1. A space to be filled in on a form or template.
  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 .
  Quotations
  […] and the freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank.
  1859, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England‎, volume 1
  1. An empty form without substance; anything insignificant; nothing at all .
  2. An unprinted leaf of a book .
7. (literature) Blank verse .
8. (mechanics, engineering) A piece of material roughly cut, forged, cast, etc. to the size and shape 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 .
  2. (electric recording) The shaved wax ready for placing on a recording machine for making wax records with a stylus .
9. (figurative) A vacant space, place, or period; a void .
  Quotations
  Du. And what's her hiſtory?Vio. A blanke my Lord:
  c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iv], page 263, column 1
10. The 1 / 230400 of a grain .
11. An empty space in one's memory; a forgotten item or memory .
  Quotations
  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
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.
15. (firearms) Short for blank cartridge.
16. (figurative, in the expression ‘shooting blanks’, sports) An ineffective effort which achieves nothing .
  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
third-person singular simple present blanks, present participle blanking, simple past and past participle blanked
1. (transitive) To make void; to erase.
2. (transitive, slang) To ignore (a person) deliberately.
3. (transitive, aviation, of a control surface) To render ineffective by blanketing with turbulent airflow, such as from aircraft wake or reverse thrust.
4. (transitive) To prevent from scoring; for example, in a sporting event.
5. (intransitive) To become blank.
  Quotations
  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.
  2007 February 14, NASA, “4.5.2 Two-Engine-Out Contingency Software Termination”, in Contingency Aborts 21007/31007‎, archived from the original on 8 March 2022, page 45
6. (intransitive) To be temporarily unable to remember.

Definition of "blank"

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noun

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