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Blench - 10 dictionary results

blench

1  [blench]
Use Blench in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
to shrink; flinch; quail: an unsteady eye that blenched under another's gaze.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME blenchen, OE blencan; c. ON blekkja, MHG blenken

Related forms:
blencher, noun
blench⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
See wince.

blench

2  [blench]
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
to make or become pale or white; blanch.
Origin:
1805–15; var. of blanch 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Blench
blanch   (blānch)   
v.   blanched also blenched, blanch·ing also blench·ing, blanch·es also blench·es

v.   tr.
  1. To take the color from; bleach.
  2. To whiten (a growing plant or plant part) by covering to cut off direct light.
  3. To whiten (a metal) by soaking in acid or by coating with tin.
    1. To scald (almonds, for example) in order to loosen the skin.
    2. To scald (food) briefly, as before freezing or as a preliminary stage in preparing a dish.
  5. To cause to turn white or become pale.
v.   intr.
To turn white or become pale: Their faces blanched in terror.

[Middle English blaunchen, to make white, from Old French blanchir, from blanche, feminine of blanc, white, of Germanic origin; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
blanch'er n.
blench 1   (blěnch)   
intr.v.   blenched, blench·ing, blench·es
To draw back or shy away, as from fear; flinch.

[Middle English blenchen, from Old English blencan, to deceive; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
blench'er n.
blench 2   (blěnch)   
v.  Variant of blanch.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Blench

Blench\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Blenched; p. pr. & vb. n. Blenching.] [OE. blenchen to blench, elude, deceive, AS. blencan to deceive; akin to Icel. blekkja to impose upon. Prop. a causative of blink to make to wink, to deceive. See Blink, and cf. 3d Blanch.]

1. To shrink; to start back; to draw back, from lack of courage or resolution; to flinch; to quail.

Blench not at thy chosen lot. --Bryant.

This painful, heroic task he undertook, and never blenched from its fulfillment. --Jeffrey.

2. To fly off; to turn aside. [Obs.]

Though sometimes you do blench from this to that. --Shak.

Blench

Blench\, v. t. 1. To baffle; to disconcert; to turn away; -- also, to obstruct; to hinder. [Obs.]

Ye should have somewhat blenched him therewith, yet he might and would of likelihood have gone further. --Sir T. More.

2. To draw back from; to deny from fear. [Obs.]

He now blenched what before he affirmed. --Evelyn.

Blench

Blench\, n. A looking aside or askance. [Obs.]

These blenches gave my heart another youth. --Shak.

Blench

Blench\, v. i. & t. [See 1st Blanch.] To grow or make pale. --Barbour.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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blench 
O.E. blencan "deceive," from P.Gmc. *blankjanan. Sense of "move suddenly, wince, dodge" is from c.1300.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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