blanch1
[blanch, blahnch]
- to whiten by removing color; bleach: Workers were blanching linen in the sun.
- Cookery.
- to scald briefly and then drain, as peaches or almonds to facilitate removal of skins, or as rice or macaroni to separate the grains or strands.
- to scald or parboil (meat or vegetables) so as to whiten, remove the odor, prepare for cooking by other means, etc.
- Horticulture. (of the stems or leaves of plants, as celery or lettuce) to whiten or prevent from becoming green by excluding light.
- Metallurgy.
- to give a white luster to (metals), as by means of acids.
- to coat (sheet metal) with tin.
- to make pale, as with sickness or fear: The long illness had blanched her cheeks of their natural color.
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- to become white; turn pale: The very thought of going made him blanch.
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Origin of blanch1
1300–50; Middle English bla(u)nchen < Anglo-French, Middle French blanchir to whiten, derivative of blanc, blanche white; see blank
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. See whiten.
blanch2
[blanch, blahnch]
- to force back or to one side; head off, as a deer or other quarry.
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Origin of blanch2
First recorded in 1565–75; variant of blench1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for blanch
Contemporary Examples
Most Republicans blanch instinctively at the political rhetoric of “the new Cleveland.”
His more polemical books, such as Black Mass and Straw Dogs, often posit a worldview bleak enough to make Beckett blanch.
Blanch squash for about one minute, drain and cool with cold water.
Blanch the spinach and parsley in boiling salted water until completely tender and then cool in ice water.
Even some progressives might blanch at the idea that we ourselves might run the banks.
Historical Examples
Or you may blanch a quart of ground-nuts and put them in instead of the almonds.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesEliza Leslie
Blanch them in boiling salted water, then drain and fry them in butter.
The Cook's Decameron: A Study in Taste:Mrs. W. G. Waters
Take off the outside leaves of a lettuce, blanch and drain them well.
The Cook's Decameron: A Study in Taste:Mrs. W. G. Waters
First blanch them by putting them into cold water and bringing it to the boil.
The Skilful CookMary Harrison
Blanch them by putting them in cold water and bringing them to the boil.
The Skilful CookMary Harrison
blanch
- (also intr) to remove colour from, or (of colour) to be removed; whiten; fadethe sun blanched the carpet; over the years the painting blanched
- (usually intr) to become or cause to become pale, as with sickness or fear
- to plunge tomatoes, nuts, etc, into boiling water to loosen the skin
- to plunge (meat, green vegetables, etc) in boiling water or bring to the boil in water in order to whiten, preserve the natural colour, or reduce or remove a bitter or salty taste
- to cause (celery, chicory, etc) to grow free of chlorophyll by the exclusion of sunlight
- metallurgy to whiten (a metal), usually by treating it with an acid or by coating it with tin
- (tr, usually foll by over) to attempt to conceal something
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French blanchir from blanc white; see blank
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for blanch
v.1
"to make white, turn pale," c.1400, from Old French blanchir "to whiten, wash," from blanc "white" (11c.; see blank (adj.)). Originally "to remove the hull of (almonds, etc.) by soaking." Intransitive sense of "to turn white" is from 1768. Related: Blanched; blanching.
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v.2
"to start back, turn aside," 1570s, variant of blench. Related: Blanched; blanching.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper