bleach

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

• intransitive verb To remove the color from, as by means of chemical agents or sunlight.
• intransitive verb To make white or colorless.
• intransitive verb To whiten by causing the death or expulsion of algal symbionts from (coral).
• intransitive verb To act as or use a bleach.
• intransitive verb To become white as a result of the loss of algal symbionts, usually following an environmental stress such as increased water temperature. Used of coral.
• noun A chemical agent used for bleaching.
• noun The act of bleaching.
• noun The degree of bleaching obtained.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Pale.
• Bleak.
• To make white or whiter by removing color; whiten; blanch; make pale; specifically, to whiten (as linen, etc.) by washing and exposure to the action of the air and sunlight, or by chemical preparations. See bleaching.
• Synonyms Blanch, etc. See whiten.
• To become white in any manner; become pale or colorless.
• To become morally pure.
• noun Blacking; any substance used for blacking.
• noun An abbreviation of ‘bleaching-powder,’ or chlorid of lime.
• noun A disease of the skin. Holland, tr. of Pliny.
• noun An act of bleaching; exposure to the sun or other bleaching agency or influence.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To grow white or lose color; to whiten.
• transitive verb To make white, or whiter; to remove the color, or stains, from; to blanch; to whiten.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb transitive To treat with bleach, especially so as to whiten (fabric, paper, etc) or lighten (hair).
• verb intransitive, biology to lose color due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic unicellular algae.
• noun uncountable A chemical, such as sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide, or a preparation of such a chemical, used for disinfecting or whitening.
• noun countable A variety of bleach.
• noun An act of bleaching; exposure to the sun.
• adjective archaic Pale; bleak.
• noun A disease of the skin.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the act of whitening something by bleaching it (exposing it to sunlight or using a chemical bleaching agent)
• noun an agent that makes things white or colorless
• verb make whiter or lighter
• noun the whiteness that results from removing the color from something
• verb remove color from