Meaning

(intransitive) To grow or become white..

Definitions by Sense

1. (intransitive) To grow or become white.
2. (transitive) To take the color out of, and make white; to bleach.
3. (transitive, cooking) To cook by dipping briefly into boiling water, then directly into cold water.
4. (transitive) To whiten, for example the surface of meat, by plunging into boiling water and afterwards into cold, so as to harden the surface and retain the juices.
5. (transitive) To bleach by excluding light, for example the stalks or leaves of plants by earthing them up or tying them together.
6. (transitive) To make white by removing the skin of, for example by scalding.
7. (transitive) To give a white lustre to (silver, before stamping, in the process of coining)
8. (intransitive) To cover (sheet iron) with a coating of tin.

Example Sentences

His cheek blanched with fear.

The rose blanches in the sun.

Nurse Cramer's face blanched and she turned to Dunbar desperately for aid.

"Where is the target?" "Bearing zero-four-five, Comrade. Bearing is constant," the michman replied, "closing rapidly." Tupolev blanched. "Left full rudder, all ahead flank!"

to blanch linen

Age has blanched his hair.

to blanch almonds

c. 1680, John Tillotson, The indispensable necessity of the knowledge of the Holy Scripture Blanch over the blackest and most absurd things.

Word Forms

• blanches
• blanching
• blanched

Synonyms for blanch

Related Words

When Should You Use Blanch?

Use blanch when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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