Blank

Blank

a.
  1. Of a white or pale color; without color.
    To the blank moon Her office they prescribed.
  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.
  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.
    The blank . . . glance of a half returned consciousness.
  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.

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.
    From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation.
    I was ill. I can't tell how long -- it was a blank.
  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.
  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.
  6. Aim; shot; range. [Obs.]
    I have stood . . . within the blank of his displeasure For my free speech.
  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. A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts. (Mech.)
  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.

Blank

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Blanked; p. pr. & vb. n. Blanking

  1. To make void; to annul. [Obs.]
  2. To blanch; to make blank; to damp the spirits of; to dispirit or confuse. [Obs.]
    Each opposite that blanks the face of joy.