Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary полностью

2 VERB If you say that someone blanches at something, you mean that they find it unpleasant and do not want to be involved with it. □ [V + at ] Everything he had said had been a mistake. He blanched at his miscalculations.

3 VERB If you blanch vegetables, fruit, or nuts, you put them into boiling water for a short time, usually in order to remove their skins, or to prepare them for freezing. □ [V n] Skin the peaches by blanching them.

blanc|mange /bləmɒ ndʒ/ (blancmanges ) N‑VAR Blancmange is a cold dessert that is made from milk, sugar, cornflour or corn starch, and flavouring, and looks rather like jelly.

bland /blæ nd/ (blander , blandest )

1 ADJ If you describe someone or something as bland , you mean that they are rather dull and unexciting. □  Serle has a blander personality than Howard. □  …a bland, 12-storey office block. ●  bland|ness N‑UNCOUNT □  …the blandness of television.

2 ADJ Food that is bland has very little flavour. □  It tasted bland and insipid, like warmed cardboard.

blan|dish|ments /blæ nd I ʃmənts/ N‑PLURAL [oft with poss] Blandishments are pleasant things that someone says to another person in order to persuade them to do something. [FORMAL ] □  At first Lewis resisted their blandishments.

bland|ly /blæ ndli/ ADV [ADV with v] If you do something blandly , you do it in a calm and quiet way. □  'It's not important,' he said blandly. □  The nurse smiled blandly.

blank /blæ ŋk/ (blanks , blanking , blanked )

1 ADJ Something that is blank has nothing on it. □  We could put some of the pictures over on that blank wall over there. □  He tore a blank page from his notebook. □  … a blank screen.

2 N‑COUNT A blank is a space which is left in a piece of writing or on a printed form for you to fill in particular information. □  Put a word in each blank to complete the sentence.

3 ADJ If you look blank , your face shows no feeling, understanding, or interest. □  Abbot looked blank. 'I don't quite follow, sir.'. □  His daughter gave him a blank look. ●  blank|ly ADV [ADV with v] □  She stared at him blankly. ●  blank|ness N‑UNCOUNT □  His eyes have the blankness of someone half-asleep.

4 N‑SING If your mind or memory is a blank , you cannot think of anything or remember anything. □  I'm sorry, but my mind is a blank. □  I came round in hospital and did not know where I was. Everything was a complete blank.

5 N‑COUNT [usu pl] Blanks are gun cartridges which contain explosive but do not contain a bullet, so that they cause no harm when the gun is fired. □  …a starter pistol which only fires blanks.

6 → see also point-blank

7 PHRASE If you draw a blank when you are looking for someone or something, you do not succeed in finding them. [INFORMAL ] □  They drew a blank in their search for the driver.

8 PHRASE If your mind goes blank , you are suddenly unable to think of anything appropriate to say, for example in reply to a question. □  My mind went totally blank.

▸  blank out PHRASAL VERB If you blank out a particular feeling or thought, you do not allow yourself to experience that feeling or to have that thought. □ [V n P ] I learned to blank those feelings out. □ [V P n] I was trying to blank out previous situations from my mind.

bla nk che que (blank cheques ) in AM, use blank check 1 N‑COUNT If someone is given a blank cheque , they are given the authority to spend as much money as they need or want. [JOURNALISM ] □  We are not prepared to write a blank cheque for companies that have run into trouble.