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blanch

 - 5 dictionary results

blanch

1  [blanch, blahnch]
Use blanch in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to whiten by removing color; bleach: Workers were blanching linen in the sun.
2. Cookery.
a. 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.
b. to scald or parboil (meat or vegetables) so as to whiten, remove the odor, prepare for cooking by other means, etc.
3. Horticulture. (of the stems or leaves of plants, as celery or lettuce) to whiten or prevent from becoming green by excluding light.
4. Metallurgy.
a. to give a white luster to (metals), as by means of acids.
b. to coat (sheet metal) with tin.
5. to make pale, as with sickness or fear: The long illness had blanched her cheeks of their natural color.
–verb (used without object)
6. to become white; turn pale: The very thought of going made him blanch.
Origin:
1300–50; ME bla(u)nchen < AF, MF blanchir to whiten, deriv. of blanc, blanche white; see blank

Related forms:
blancher, noun

Synonyms:
1. See whiten.

blanch

2  [blanch, blahnch]
–verb (used with object)
to force back or to one side; head off, as a deer or other quarry.
Origin:
1565–75; var. of blench 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To blanch
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.
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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Word Origin & History

blanch  (1)
1398, from O.Fr. blanchir "to whiten," from blanc "white" (see blank). Originally "to remove the hull of (almonds, etc.) by soaking." Intrans. sense of "to turn white" is from 1768.

blanch  (2)
"to start back, turn aside," 1572, variant of blench (q.v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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