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It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, and it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness, yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. |
BLANK, a.
This word is applied to various other objects, usually in the sense of destitution, emptiness; as a blank line; a blank space, in a book.&c.
BLANK, n. Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument.
Blank-bar, in law, a common bar, or a plea in bar, which, in an action of trespass, is put in to oblige the plaintiff to assign the place where the trespass was committed.
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.
BLANK, v.t. To make void; to annul.
Of a white or pale color; without
color.
To the blank moon Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an
empty space to be filled in with some special writing; -- said of checks,
official documents, etc.; as, blank paper; a blank check; a
blank ballot.
Utterly confounded or discomfited.
Adam . . . astonied stood, and blank. Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a
blank space; a blank day.
Lacking characteristics which give variety; as,
a blank desert; a blank wall; destitute of interests,
affections, hopes, etc.; as, to live a blank existence; destitute of
sensations; as, blank unconsciousness.
Lacking animation and intelligence, or their
associated characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.;
expressionless; vacant.
"Blank and horror-stricken faces."
C. Kingsley.
The blank . . . glance of a half returned
consciousness. Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank
terror.
Blank bar (Law), a plea put in to oblige the plaintiff in an action of trespass to assign the certain place where the trespass was committed; -- called also common bar. -- Blank cartridge, a cartridge containing no ball. -- Blank deed. See Deed. -- Blank door, or Blank window (Arch.), a depression in a wall of the size of a door or window, either for symmetrical effect, or for the more convenient insertion of a door or window at a future time, should it be needed. -- Blank indorsement (Law), an indorsement which omits the name of the person in whose favor it is made; it is usually made by simply writing the name of the indorser on the back of the bill. -- Blank line (Print.), a vacant space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a line of quadrats. -- Blank tire (Mech.), a tire without a flange. -- Blank tooling. See Blind tooling, under Blind. -- Blank verse. See under Verse. -- Blank wall, a wall in which there is no opening; a dead wall. Any
void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument; an
interval void of consciousness, action, result, etc; a void.
I can not write a paper full, 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. A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a
lottery on which no prize is indicated.
In Fortune's lottery lies A paper unwritten; a paper without marks or
characters a blank ballot; -- especially, a paper on which are to be
inserted designated items of information, for which spaces are left vacant;
a bland form.
The freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed
vote, and their dissent by a blank. A paper containing the substance of a legal
instrument, as a deed, release, writ, or execution, with spaces left to be
filled with names, date, descriptions, etc.
The point aimed at in a target, marked with a
white spot; hence, the object to which anything is directed.
Let me still remain Aim; shot; range.
[Obs.]
I have stood . . . within the blank of his
displeasure A kind of base silver money, first coined in
England by Henry V., and worth about 8 pence; also, a French coin of the
seventeenth century, worth about 4 pence.
Nares. A piece of metal prepared to be
made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw,
nuts.
A piece or division of a
piece, without spots; as, the "double blank"; the "six
blank."
In blank, with an essential portion to be supplied by another; as, to make out a check in blank. To make void] to
annul.
[Obs.] Spenser. To blanch; to make blank; to damp the spirits
of; to dispirit or confuse.
[Obs.]
Each opposite that blanks the face of joy. | ||||||||