Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Devoid of writing, images, or marks.
  • adjective Containing no information; unrecorded or erased: synonym: empty.
  • adjective Having spaces for information to be provided; not completed or filled in.
  • adjective Not having received final processing; unfinished.
  • adjective Devoid of thought or impression.
  • adjective Showing no expression, interest, or understanding; expressionless.
  • adjective Devoid of activity or distinctive character; empty.
  • adjective Absolute; complete.
  • noun An empty space or place, especially an empty space on a document to be filled in.
  • noun A document with one or more such spaces.
  • noun Something without information or thought.
  • noun Something showing no expression or understanding.
  • noun A manufactured article of a standard shape or form that is ready for final processing, as by stamping or cutting.
  • noun A blank cartridge.
  • noun Something worthless, such as a losing lottery ticket.
  • noun A mark, usually a dash (—), indicating the omission of a word or of a letter or letters.
  • noun The white circle in the center of a target; a bull's-eye.
  • noun Games An unmarked piece or portion of a piece, as a domino tile, whose value may be determined by the holder.
  • intransitive verb To remove, as from view; obliterate.
  • intransitive verb To block access to.
  • intransitive verb Sports To prevent (an opponent) from scoring.
  • intransitive verb To punch or stamp from flat stock, especially with a die.
  • intransitive verb To become abstracted. Often used with out:
  • intransitive verb To fail to find or remember something.
  • intransitive verb To fade away.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • . To make blank; make white or pale; blanch.
  • . To confuse; put out of countenance; disconcert; nonplus.
  • . To frustrate; make void; bring to naught.
  • A common euphemistic substitute for damn, referring to the blank or dash which is commonly substituted in printing for that word when it is used as a profane expression.
  • To leave (a card) so that it must be played when the suit is led.
  • White or pale: as, “the blanc moon,”
  • Pale from fear or terror; hence, dispirited; dejected; confounded; confused.
  • Empty or unoccupied; void; bare.
  • Specifically— Free from written or printed characters; not written upon: as, a blank book; blank paper; blank spaces.
  • Not filled up: applied to legal, banking, commercial, or other forms: as, a blank check or order; a blank ballot; a blank bond.
  • Of uniform surface; unrelieved or unbroken by ornament or opening: as, a blank wall.
  • Empty of results, of interest, etc.: as, a blank outlook for the future.
  • Without contents; especially, wanting some part necessary to completeness: as, blank cartridges, that is, cartridges containing powder but no ball.
  • Vacant in expression; exhibiting perplexity, real or feigned; nonplussed; disconcerted.
  • Complete; utter; unmitigated: as, “blank stupidity,”
  • Unrimed: applied to verse, particularly to the heroic verse of five feet without rime, such as that commonly adopted in English dramatic and epic poetry.
  • noun Any void space or vacant surface; a space from which something is absent or omitted; a void; a vacancy: as, a blank in one's memory; to leave blanks in writing.
  • noun A piece of paper prepared for some special use, but without writing or printed matter on it.
  • noun A form or document containing blank spaces; a document remaining incomplete till something essential is filled in.
  • noun In parliamentary usage, provisional words printed in italics in a bill, the final form of which is to be settled in committee.
  • noun A ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated; a lot by which nothing is gained.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, white, having spaces to be filled in, from Old French blanc, white, of Germanic origin; see bhel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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 *bhleg- (“to shine”). Akin to Old High German blanch ("shining, bright, white") (German blank), Old English blanc ("white, grey"), blanca ("white steed"), English blink, blind. See also blink, blind, and blanch.

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Examples

  • Catherine kept her expression blank as Miss Almay shot her and Theresa a scathing look.

    The Book Of Spells Kate Brian 2010

  • Catherine kept her expression blank as Miss Almay shot her and Theresa a scathing look.

    The Book Of Spells Kate Brian 2010

  • Catherine kept her expression blank as Miss Almay shot her and Theresa a scathing look.

    The Book Of Spells Kate Brian 2010

  • Instead she kept her expression blank and led Piper and Leo through the bar to a darkened hallway in the back.

    The Queen’s Curse Emma Harrison 2005

  • Instead she kept her expression blank and led Piper and Leo through the bar to a darkened hallway in the back.

    The Queen’s Curse Emma Harrison 2005

  • For a quick psychic shield, simply lower your eyelids, put a vague smile on your face, and repeat the word blank in your mind or draw circles around your head with your dominant index finger to balance your thoughts and protect you.

    Where To Park Your Broomstick Lauren Manoy 2002

  • For a quick psychic shield, simply lower your eyelids, put a vague smile on your face, and repeat the word blank in your mind or draw circles around your head with your dominant index finger to balance your thoughts and protect you.

    Where To Park Your Broomstick Lauren Manoy 2002

  • Keeping my expression blank, I said, Xerxadrea was a friend.

    Arcane Circle Linda Robertson 2011

  • “Orphans,” he mused, struggling to keep his expression blank.

    Fire The Sky W. Michael Gear 2011

  • “Orphans,” he mused, struggling to keep his expression blank.

    Fire The Sky W. Michael Gear 2011

Comments

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  • As a verb (or gerund) in North American sports reporting, to deny points to, to keep a clean sheet:

    "It was the 30-year-old's 27th career blanking" - Vancouver Sun, 1-10-08

    January 11, 2008