Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BLANK, n.

1. Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument.
2. A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery which draws no prize.
3. A paper unwritten; a paper without marks or characters.
4. A paper containing the substance of a legal instrument, as a deed, release, writ or execution, with vacant spaces left to be filled with names, date, descriptions, &c.
5. The point to which an arrow is directed, marked with white paper. [Little used.] – Shak.
6. Aim; shot. [Obs.] Shak.
7. Object to which any thing is directed. – Shak.
8. A small copper coin formerly current in France, at the rate of 5 deniers Tournois. There were also pieces of three blanks, and of six; but they are now become moneys of account. – Encyc.
9. In coinage, a plate or piece of gold or silver, cut and shaped, but not stamped. – Encyc. Blank-bar, in law, a common bar, or a plea in bar, which, in an action of trespass, is put in to oblige the plaintif to assign the place where the trespass was committed. – Encyc. Point-blank, in gunnery, the shot of a gun leveled horizontally. The distance between the piece, and the point where the shot first touches the ground, is called the point-blank range; the shot proceeding on a straight line, without curving. – Encyc.