Adjacent Words

Blanching definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BL'ANCHING, ppr. Whitening. In coinage, the operation of giving brightness to pieces of silver,by heating them on a peel, and afterwards boiling them successively in two pans of copper, with aqua fortis, common salt, and tartar of Montpelier; then draining off the water in a sieve; sand and fresh water are then thrown over them, and when dry, they are rubbed with a towel.
The covering of iron plates with a thin coat of tin is also called blanching.
Blanch-fern, or blank farm, in ancient law, a white farm, was one, where the rent was paid in silver, not in cattle.
Blanch-holding, in law, a tenure by which the tenant is bound to pay only an elusory yearly duty to his superior, as an acknowledgment to his right.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blanch Blanch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blanched; p. pr. & vb. n. Blanching.] [OE. blanchen, blaunchen, F. blanchir, fr. blanc white. See Blank, a.] 1. To take the color out of, and make white; to bleach; as, to blanch linen; age has blanched his hair. 2. (Gardening) To bleach by excluding the light, as the stalks or leaves of plants, by earthing them up or tying them together. 3. (Confectionery & Cookery) (a) To make white by removing the skin of, as by scalding; as, to blanch almonds. (b) To whiten, as the surface of meat, by plunging into boiling water and afterwards into cold, so as to harden the surface and retain the juices. 4. To give a white luster to (silver, before stamping, in the process of coining.). 5. To cover (sheet iron) with a coating of tin. 6. Fig.: To whiten; to give a favorable appearance to; to whitewash; to palliate. Blanch over the blackest and most absurd things. --Tillotson. Syn: To Blanch, Whiten. Usage: To whiten is the generic term, denoting, to render white; as, to whiten the walls of a room. Usually (though not of necessity) this is supposed to be done by placing some white coloring matter in or upon the surface of the object in question. To blanch is to whiten by the removal of coloring matter; as, to blanch linen. So the cheek is blanched by fear, i. e., by the withdrawal of the blood, which leaves it white.