blank

adj

1. (archaic)White or pale; without colour.

   “To the blanc Moone / Her office they preſcrib'd,”

2. Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in.

   “blank paper”

   “a blank check”

   “a blank ballot”

   “a blank CD”

   “Referee Michael Oliver failed to detect a foul in a crowded box and the Canaries escaped down the tunnel with the scoreline still blank.”

3. (figuratively)Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform.

   “a blank desert; a blank wall; blank unconsciousness”

   “Not a cloud in the blank blue sky.”

4. Abject; absolute; complete; downright; sheer; utter.

   “a blank refusal to cooperate”

   “There was a look of blank terror on his face.”

5. (figuratively)Without expression, usually because of incomprehension.

   “Failing to understand the question, he gave me a blank stare.”

6. Utterly confounded or discomfited.

   “Adam […] Aſtonied ſtood and Blank,”

7. Empty; void; without result; fruitless; futile.

   “a blank day”

8. Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration.

   “The shock left his memory blank.”

9. Of ammunition: having propellant but no bullets; unbulleted.

   “The recruits were issued blank rounds for a training exercise.”

noun

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 .

   “Whosoeuer brought a fagot before the kynges tent, he shulde haue a blanke of Fraunce.”

2. (obsolete)A nonplus [16th century].
3. The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim .

   “Des. […] And stood within the blank of his displeasure / For my free speech! (Act III, scene 11)”

   “Kent. See better, Lear, and let me still remain / The true blank of thine eye. (Act I, scene 2)”

4. A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated [since the 16th century].

   “[…] and in Fortune's Lottery lies / A heap of Blanks, like this, for one ſmall Prize.”

5. An empty space; a void, for example on a paper .

   “Write your answers in the blanks.”

6. An empty space; a void, for example on a paper .
7. (US)A document, paper, or form with spaces left blank to be filled in 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 .

   “[…] and the freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank.”

8. (US)A document, paper, or form with spaces left blank to be filled in 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 .
9. (US)A document, paper, or form with spaces left blank to be filled in 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 .
10. Blank verse .
11. 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 .
12. 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 .
13. (figuratively)A vacant space, place, or period; a void [since the 17th century].

    “Du. And what's her hiſtory? Vio. A blanke my Lord:”

14. The ¹ / ₂₃₀₄₀₀ of a grain [17th century].
15. An empty space in one's memory; a forgotten item or memory [since the 18th century].

    “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.”

    “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. […]””

16. A dash written in place of an omitted letter or word
17. The space character; the character resulting from pressing the space bar on a keyboard.
18. A domino without points on one or both of its divisions.

    “the double blank”

    “the six blank”

19. A tile that can be played as any letter and having a point value of zero.
20. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of blank cartridge [since the 19th century].

    “It was an unloaded gun that fired only blanks.”

21. (figuratively)An ineffective effort which achieves nothing [since the 20th century].
22. (figuratively, slang)An ineffective effort which achieves nothing [since the 20th century].

verb

1. (transitive)To make void; to erase.

   “I blanked out my previous entry.”

2. (slang, transitive)To ignore (a person) deliberately.

   “She blanked me for no reason.”

   “Taylor Swift goes viral for blanking Celine Dion on stage at Grammys 2024 […] Taylor Swift received backlash for being 'disrespectful' by 'ignoring' Celine Dion while accepting the award for Album of the Year at the Grammys on Sunday.”

3. (transitive)To render ineffective by blanketing with turbulent airflow, such as from aircraft wake or reverse thrust.

   “At high angles of attack, the shuttle’s rudder is blanked by the fuselage and wings, forcing it to use its RCS thrusters for yaw control.”

4. (transitive)To prevent from scoring; for example, in a sporting event.

   “The team was blanked.”

   “England blanks Wales to advance to the final.”

5. (intransitive)To become blank.

   “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.”

6. (informal, intransitive)To experience a temporary lapse of memory; to be temporarily unable to remember a particular fact. (Commonly used in the first person, present progressive tense, and commonly followed by on to create a transitive phrasal verb.)

   “I’m blanking on her name right now.”

   “She asked him a simple question during the interview, and he blanked.”

name

1. A surname.

   “The same preoccupation with developing a conceptual framework is evident in David Blank's Venezuela: Politics in a Petroleum Republic, a modified version of Blank's early theses.”

2. (dated)Used as an anonymous placeholder for a person's name.

   “Miss Compton, in 'Other People's Worries,' asks rhetorically whether a young rip was not in the Blank divorce case.”