Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BLEACH, v.t. [Sax. blæcan; D. bleeken; G. bleichen; Sw. bleka; Dan. bleeger, to whiten or bleach; D. blyken, to appear, to show; Dan. blik, a white plate of iron, or tin plate; bleeg, pale, wan, Eng. bleak; Sw. blek, id.; bleka, to shine; Ar. بَلَقَ balaka, to open or be opened, to shine; بَلَجَ balaja, id. It is not improbable that blank and blanch are the same word, with a nasal sound casually uttered and afterward written before the final consonant.]

To whiten; to make white or whiter; to take out color; applied to many things, but particularly to cloth and thread. Bleaching is variously performed, but in general by steeping the cloth in lye, or a solution of pot or pearl ashes, and then exposing it to the solar rays. Bleaching is now generally performed, on the large scale, by means of chlorine or the oxymuriatic acid, which has the property of whitening vegetable substances. – Cyc.

BLEACH'ED, pp.

Whitened; made white.

BLEACH'ER, n.

One who whitens, or whose occupation is to whiten cloth.

BLEACH'ER-Y, n.

A place for bleaching; as, a wax bleachery. – Tooke.

BLEACH'ING, n.

The act or art of whitening, especially cloth.

BLEACH'ING, ppr.

Whitening; making white; becoming white.

BLEAK, a. [Sax. blac, blæk, black and pale, or wan; niger, pallidus, fuscus, pullus. It appears that originally this word did not denote perfect whiteness, but a wan or brown color. This is from the same root as black and bleach. See Bleach.]

1. Pale. [But not often used in this sense in America, as far as my observations extend.]
2. Open; vacant; exposed to a free current of air; as, a bleak hill or shore. This is the true sense of the word; hence cold and cheerless. A bleak wind is not so named merely from its coldness, but from its blowing without interruption, on a wide waste; at least this is the sense in America. So in Addison: “Her desolation presents us with nothing but bleak and barren prospects.”

BLEAK, n.

A small river fish, five or six inches long, so named from its whiteness. It belongs to the genus Cyprinus, and is known to the Londoners by the name of white bait, It is called also by contraction blay. – Encyc.

BLEAK'ISH, a.

Moderately bleak.

BLEAK'NESS, n.

Openness of situation; exposure to the wind; hence coldness. – Addison.

BLEAK'Y, a.

Bleak; open; unsheltered; cold; chill. – Dryden.

BLEAR, a. [D. blaar; Dan. blære, a blister, a bladder or bubble.]

Sore, with a watery rheum, applied only to the eyes; as, the blear-eyed owl. – L'Estrange.

BLEAR, v.t.

To make sore to affect with soreness of eyes, or a watery humor; to make dim or partially obscure the sight. – Ralegh. Dryden.

BLEAR'ED, pp.

Dimmed by a watery humor.

BLEAR'ED-NESS, n.

The state of being bleared, or dimmed with rheum. – Wiseman.

BLEAR'EY-ED, a.

Having sore eyes; having the eyes dim with rheum; dim-sighted. – Butler.

BLEAR'ING, ppr.

Dimming with a humor.

BLEAT, n.

The cry of a sheep.

BLEAT, v.i. [Sax. blætan; L. blatero; D. blæten; Sw. bladra, pluddra; Dan. pludrer. It coincides in elements with L. plaudo.]

To make the noise of a sheep; to cry as a sheep.

BLEAT'ING, n.

The cry of a sheep.

BLEAT'ING, ppr. [or a.]

Crying as a sheep.

BLEB, n. [This word belongs to the root of blab, blubber.]

A little tumor, vesicle or blister. Arsenic abounds with air blebs. – Kirwan.

BLEB'BY, a.

Full of blebs. – Phillips.

BLED, v. [pret. and pp. of Bleed.]

BLEED, v.i. [pret. and pp. bled. Sax. bledan; D. bloeden; G. bluten; to bleed; allied perhaps to Gr. βλυζω.]

1. To lose blood; to run with blood, by whatever means; as, the arm bleeds.
2. To die a violent death, or by slaughter. The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day. – Pope.
3. To issue forth, or drop as blood, from an incision; to lose sap, gum, or juice; as, a tree or a vine bleeds. For me the balm shall bleed. – Pope. The heart bleeds, is a phrase used to denote extreme pain from sympathy or pity.