blamelessness 
blamelessness (blam'les-nes), . The state or 
quality of being blameless ; innocence ; purity. 
Thy white btontetonMH accounted blame. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
blamer (bla'mer), . One who blames, finds 
fault, or censures: as, "blainers ot the times," 
Donne, To Countess of Bedford, iii. 
blameworthiness (blam ' wer " Tiii - nes) , n. [< 
blameworthy + -ness.] The quality of being 
blameworthy ; blamableuess. 
Praise and lilame express what actually are, praisewor- 
thiness and Manmmrthinem what naturally ought to be, 
the sentiments of other people with regard to our charac- 
ter and conduct. 
Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, iii. 3. 
Blame I can bear, though not blamewarthines. 
Bromihiff, King and Book, I. 140. 
blameworthy (blam' wer "TH!), . [< ME. 
blameworthy, < blame + worthy.'] Deserving 
blame ; censurable ; culpable ; reprehensible. 
That the sending of a divorce to her husband was not 
blaiiieimrthy , he affirms, because the man was heinously 
vicious. Milton, Divorce, ii. 22. 
blanc (blangk; F. pron. blon), n. [OF. Wane, 
a silver coin (see def. 2), < blanc, a., white : see 
blank.] 1. A silver coin, weighing about 47 
576 
Blanch lion, anciently, the title of one of the pursuivants 
of arms. 
II. n. If. Same as blanc, 3. 2+. A white 
spot on the skin. 3. In mining, a piece of ore 
found isolated in the hard rock. B. Hunt. 
[Eng.] 
blan 
Obverse. Revei 
Blanc of Henry VI.. British Museum. ( Size of the 
riginal. ) 
grains, struck by Henry VI. of England (1422- 
1461) for his French dominions. Sometimes 
spelled blank or bland: 
Have you any money ? he answered, Not a blanck. 
B. Jonson, Gayton's Fest. Night. 
2. A French silver coin, first issued by Philip of 
Valois (1328-1350) at the value of 10 deniers, 
or sV livre. Under King John the Good (1350-1364) 
the blanc was coined at 5 deniers. Under Charles VI. and 
Obverse. Reverse. 
Blanc of Charles VI. of France, British Museum. ( Size of the original. } 
his successors the blauc was worth 10 deniers, and the 
demi-blanc 5 deniers. From Louis XI. to Francis I. a 
grand blanc was issued worth 12 deniers, or -^ livre, and 
a petit blanc of one half that value. After the time of 
Francis I. the grand blanc was no longer coined ; but the 
petit blanc was retained as a money of account, and was 
reckoned at 5 deniers, or -% livre ; it was commonly called 
simply blanc. The blanc was coined according to both the 
tournois and the parisis systems, the latter coins, like 
others of the same system, being worth one quarter more 
than those of the same name in the former system. 
3. A white paint, especially for the face. 4. 
A piece of ware such as is generally decorated, 
sold or delivered without its decoration. At the 
Sevres and other porcelain-factories pieces not quite per- 
fect in shape are sold undeeorated, but bearing a special 
ineffaceable mark, which distinguishes them from those 
finished in the factory. 
5. A rich stock or gravy in which made dishes 
or entries are sometimes served. Blanc d'ar- 
gent, a pigment, the carbonate of lead, or white lead, usu- 
ally found in commerce in small drops. Blanc fixe, an 
artificially prepared sulphate of barium, made by dissolv- 
as an adulterant of paper, pigments, etc. 
blancard (blang'kard), n. [F., < blanc, white 
(see blank), + -ard.] A kind of linen cloth 
manufactured in Normandy : so called because 
the thread is half blanched before it is woven. 
blanch 1 (blanch), a. and n. [Also written 
blench; < ME. blanche, blaunche,< OF. blanche, 
fern, of blanc, white: see blank, .] I. a. If. 
White; pale. 2f. Same as blench 2 Blanch 
farm. See l/laitc/i-farm. Blanch fevert IF. "tirrm 
blanches, the agues wherewith maidens that have the 
green-sickness be troubled," Co(y /], literally, pide 
fever; hence, to have the blanch fatter is either to be in 
love or to be sick with wantonness. 
And som, thou seydest hadde a blattche fevere, 
And preyedest God he sholde nevere ke'vere. 
Chaucer, Troilus, i. !)l(i. 
blanch 1 (blanch), v. [Early mod. E. also 
blaunch; < ME. blaunchen, blanchen, < OF. blan- 
cMr (F. blanchir), < blanc (> ME. blank, blanch), 
white: see blank.'] I. trans. 1. To make white; 
whiten by depriving of color ; render colorless : 
as, to blanch linen. 2. In hort., to whiten or 
prevent from becoming green by excluding the 
light : a process applied to the stems or leaves 
of plants, such as celery, lettuce, sea-kale, etc. 
It Is done by banking up earth about the stems of the 
Slants, tying the leaves together to keep the inner ones 
om the light, or covering with pots, boxes, or the like. 
3. To make pale, as with sickness, fear, cold, 
etc. 
Keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 
When mine are blanch'd with fear. 
Shot., Macbeth, iii. 4. 
4f. Figuratively, to give a fair appearance to, 
as an immoral act; palliate; slur; pass over. 
They extoll Coustantine because he extol'd them; as 
our homebred Monks in their Histories blanch the Kings 
their Benefactors, and brand those that went about to be 
their Correctors. Milton, Ref. in Eng., i. 
Blanch over the blackest and most absurd things. 
TilloUon, Works, I. SO. 
5. In cookery, to soak (as meat or vegetables) 
in hot water, or to scald by a short, rapid boil- 
ing, for the purpose of producing firmness or 
whiteness. 6. In the arts, to whiten or make 
lustrous (as metals) by acids or other means ; 
also, to cover with a thin coating of tin. TO 
blanch almonds, to deprive them of their skins by im- 
mersion in hot water and a little friction, after their shells 
have been removed. 
One word more, and I'll blanch thee like an almond. 
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, i. 2. 
= Syn. 1 and 2. Etiolate, etc. See whiten. 
fl. intrans. To become white ; turn pale. 
The ripple would hardly blanch, into spray 
At the feet of the cliff. Tennyson, The Wreck. 
Drew his toil-worn sleeve across 
To brush the manly tear 
From cheeks that never changed in woe, 
And never blanched in fear. 
O. W. Holmes, Pilgrim's Vision. 
blanch 2 ! (blanch), v. [A corruption of blench}, 
simulating blanch*, turn pale : see blench*."] 
1. trans. To shun or avoid, as from fear ; evade. 
The judges . . . thought it ... dangerous ... to ad- 
mit ifs and ands to qualifie the words of treason, whereby 
every man might expresse his malice and blanch his dan- 
ger. Bacon, Hen. VII., p. 134. 
By whose importunitie was the saile slacken'd in the 
first encounter with the Dutch, or whether I am to blanch 
this particular? Evelyn, To my Lord Treasurer. 
II. intrans. To shrink; shift; equivocate. 
Books will speak plain when counsellors blanch. 
Bacon, Of Counsel. 
blanched (blaneht), p. a. Whitened; deprived 
of color; bleached. 
And still she slept an azure-lidded sleep, 
In blanched linen, smooth, and lavender'd. 
Keats, Eve of St. Agnes, xxx. 
Specifically applied to coins and silver articles contain- 
ing copper which have been submitted to the action of hot 
dilute sulphuric acid, to dissolve a part of the copper of the 
alloy on the surface, and leave a film or coating richer in 
silver. Blanched copper, an alloy of copper and arse- 
nic, in about the proportion of 10 of the former to 1 of the 
latter. It is used for clock-dials and thermometer- and 
barometer-scales. It is prepared by heating copper clip- 
pings with white arsenic (arsenious acid), arranged in al- 
ternate layers and covered with common salt, in an earth- 
en crucible. 
blancher 1 (blan'cher), n. [Early mod. E. also 
blauncher, < ME. blancher ; < blanch* + -er*.~\ 
One who blanches or whitens, in any sense of 
the verb blanch*. 
blancher 2 t (blan'cher), n. [Early mod. E. also 
blauncher, blaunsher, etc. ; < blanch? (= blench*) 
+ -er*.] 1. One who turns aside or causes 
to turn aside ; a perverter. 
These blaiicherx will be ready to whisper the king in the 
ear, and to tell him that this abuse is hut a small matter. 
Latitner, Sermon of the Plough. 
2. One stationed for the purpose of turning 
game in some direction ; a sewel (which see). 
Zelmane was like one that stood in a tree waiting a 
good occasion to shoot, and Gynecia a blancher which 
kept the dearest deer from her. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
And there we found one Mr. Greenfield, a gentleman of 
Buckinghamshire, gathering up part of the said books' 
leaves (as he said), therewith to make him sewels or 
tiliimixltrrei to keel) the deer within tile wood, thereby 
to have the better cry witli his hounds. 
Laiitun, in K. W. Dixon's Hist. Oh. of Kiift., iv. 
3. One who starts or balks at anything. N.M.I). 
blanch-farm, blanch-ferm, n. [< OF. blanche 
ferine, lit. white rent: see blanch*, a., and 
blandiloquence 
farm.'] Rent paid in silver instead of in ser- 
vice or produce ; also, a kind of nominal quit- 
rent, paid with a small piece of silver or other- 
wise. Also written blench-farm, blench-fenn, 
and blench-firm. 
blanch-holding (blanch ' hoi " ding), n. A 
Scotch tenure by which the tenant is bound to 
pay only a nominal or trifling yearly duty to 
his superior, as an acknowledgment of his 
right, and only if demanded. Also written 
bleneh-holding. 
blanchimeter (blan-ehim'e-ter), n. [Irreg. 
< blanch + meter. Cf. altimeter.] An instru- 
ment for measuring the bleaching power of 
oxymuriate (chlorid) of lime and potash. 
blanching (blan'ching), n. The act of render- 
ing blanched or white; specifically, any pro- 
cess applied to silver or other metals to impart 
whiteness and luster. 
blanching-liquor (blan'ching-lik"or), n. The 
solution of chlorid of lime used for bleaching. 
Also called blcaching-liquid. 
blanckt, a. and n. An obsolete spelling of blank. 
blanc-mange, blanc-manger (bla-monzh', 
-mpn-zha'), n. {The p rese nt spelling and pron. 
imitate the mod. F. Also written blamange, bio- 
mange, blumange, bhiemange, according to the 
current pronunciation; early mod. E. also blauc- 
manger, blowmanger, etc., < ME. blamanger, blaic- 
manger, blammanger, blanmanger, blankmangcr, 
blancmanger, etc., a preparation of different 
kinds; < OF. (and F.) blanc-manger (= Sp. 
manjar bianco), lit. white food, < blanc, white, 
+ manger, eating, prop, inf., eat: see blank 
and manger.'] In cookery, a name of different 
preparations of the consistency of jelly, vari- 
ously composed of dissolved isinglass, arrow- 
root, corn-starch, etc., with milk and flavoring 
substances. It is frequently made from a marine alga, 
Chondrua crispus, called Irish moss, which is common on 
the coasts of Europe and North America. The blanc- 
tnatiffer mentioned by Chaucer in the General Prologue to 
the Canterbury Tales, 1. 387, was apparently a compound 
made of capon minced with flour, sugar, and cream. 
bianco (blang'ko), n. [Sp., < bianco, a., white : 
see blanlc.'} A grade of cochineal-bugs, often 
called silver-whites, from their peculiar lus- 
trous appearance, in distinction from the black 
bugs or zacatillas. They are picked into bags and 
immediately dried in a stove, while the others are first 
thrown into hot water. 
bland 1 !, v. t. [Early mod. E. (Sc.), < ME. blan- 
den, blonden, < AS. blandan (pret. blednd, pp. 
blanden) =OS. blandan = OHG. blantan = Icel. 
blanda = Sw. blanda = Dan. blande = Goth, blan- 
dan (redupl. verb, pret. baibland, pp. blandans), 
mix; rare in AS., and in later use superseded 
by blend*, q. v.] To mix; blend. 
bland 1 (bland), . [(1) ME., < AS. bland (= 
Icel. bland), mixture (Icel. i bland, in union, to- 
gether), < blandan, mix; (2) < Icel. blanda, a 
mixture of liquids, esp. of hot whey with water, 
< blanda = AS. blandan, mix, blend : see bland*, 
i'.] If. Mixture ; union. 2. An agreeable 
summer beverage prepared from the whey of 
churned milk, common among the inhabitants 
of the Shetland islands In bland*, together; 
blended. 
bland 2 (bland), a. [< L. blandus, caressing, 
soft, agreeable, flattering, perhaps orig. *mlan- 
dus, akin to mollis, mild, Skt. mridit, Gr. /lelAt- 
X<%, E. wild, etc.: see mild, moll.'] 1. Mild; 
soft; gentle; balmy. 
Exhilarating vapour bland. Milton, P. L., ix. 1047. 
The weather . . . being for the most part of a bland and 
equal temperature. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., i. 14. 
2. Affable; suave; soothing; kindly: as," bland 
words," Milton, P. L., ix. 855. 
His manners were gentle, complying, and bland. 
Goldsmith, Retaliation, 1. 140. 
Bland the smile that like a wrinkling wind 
On glassy water drove his cheek in lines. 
Tennyson, Princess, i. 
3. Mildj free from irritating qualities: said 
of certain medicines: as, bland oils. 4. Not 
stimulating: said of food. = Syn. Mild, etc. See 
gentle. 
b'land 2 t, >'. t. [Early mod. E. (Sc.), < ME. 
blanden, blonden, blannden. = MD, blniidrn, < 
OF. blandir (> also E. blandish, q. v.), < L. blan- 
diri, flatter, caress: nee blandish."] To flatter; 
blandish. 
blandationt (blan-da'shou), n. [< L. as if 
*bliintJatin(ii-), equiv. to" blanilitin, < blandiri, 
pp. biiindiliin, flatter: see hlttndisli.'] A piece 
of flattery; blandishment. Camden. 
blandiloquence (blan-dil'o-kwens), n. [< L. 
blaiidiloqiiriitiH, < blandiloqueii(t-)s, speaking 
