Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.”