| 释义 |
▪ I. bleak, n.|bliːk|
Forms: 5 bleke, 7 bleake, 7– bleak.
[The 15th c. bleke points to an unrecorded OE. *blǽce weak fem. = ON. bleikja, OHG. bleicha:—OTeut. *blaikjôn- f. *blaiko- white, shining: see next word. But the only known OE. name is blǽᵹe, blay n., which is not directly connected with bleak; and it is possible that bleke was from ON., although bleyke, blayke would then have been the expected form.]
A small river-fish, called also the Blay (Leuciscus alburnus); and scientifically the genus to which it belongs; also an allied sea-fish.
1496Bk. St. Albans, Fysshynge 32 The bleke is but a feble fysshe, yet he is holsom. 1597Breton Wit's Trenchm. (1876) 7 Little fishes, as Bleakes, Roches. 1653Walton Angler 205 There is also a Bleak, a fish that is ever in motion. 1655Mouffet & Benn. Health's Improv. (1746) 237 Bleaks of the Sea, or Sea-Bleaks..are as..wholesome, as any Carp. Ibid. 269 Bleys or Bleaks are soft flesh'd, but never fat. 1787Best Angling 59 The bleak, on account of its eagerness to catch flies, is called by some, the river swallow. 1880Günther Fishes 604 ‘Bleak’ are numerous in Europe and Western Asia, fifteen species being known, the common Bleak is found north of the Alps only.
▪ II. bleak, a.|bliːk|
Forms: 6 (bleke in bleke-ly) bleeke, 6–7 bleake, 7– bleak.
[A form (not found before the 16th c.) parallel to the synonymous bleche (bleach), bleyke (blayke), blake, bloke, in earlier, and partly in contemporary use. Its exact relation to these normal forms is not easily determined. Bleke, bleak may have been the northern form of bleche, bleach a.; cf. bleak v. = bleach v.; but there is no evidence of its having originated in the north. It is also possible that it was a 16th c. spelling of bleyke, blayke, from ON., or even of the northern dial. blake; or that it resulted from a blending of bleach, with bleyke or blake. Cf. blake, bleach, bleyke a.]
†1. Pale, pallid, wan; deficient in colour, esp. deficient in the ruddy bloom of health, or the full green of vegetation; of a sickly hue: also used like pale to modify other colours (see b). Still dial.
1566Painter Pal. Pleas. i. 198 b, [She] began to recoloure her bleake and pale face with a vermilion teinte and roseall rudde. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. xlviii. 69 The floures be..more pale or bleaker. 1597Gerard Herbal i. xxxv. §1. 48 This Iris hath his flower of a bleake white colour. 1625Hart Anat. Ur. i. iv. 43 She was of a whitish bleake colour, and of a cachecticall disposition. 1633G. Herbert Church-rents ii. in Temple, Calamities Turned your ruddie into pale and bleak. 1840Forby Norf. & Suff. Wds., Bleek is still used in Norfolk to signify pale and sickly.
b.1578Lyte Dodoens i. lxxix. 117 Small pale or bleake yellow floures. Ibid. ii. xxvi. 277 Sometimes a bleeke or faynt yellow. 1629J. Parkinson Parad. in Sole xc. 388 Of a faire bleake blew Colour, and in others pure white. 1665–76Ray Flora 78 The flowers are of a bleak ash colour.
2. Bare of vegetation; exposed: now often with some mixture of sense 3, wind-swept.
1538[see bleakly]. 1574R. Scot Hop Gard. (1578) 3 Many..lay their Gardens very open and bleake to the South. 1608Shakes. Per. iii. ii. 14 Our lodgings, standing bleak upon the sea. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 543 The bleak Meotian Strand. 1750Johnson Rambl. No. 80 ⁋5 Bleak hills and leafless woods. 1783–94Blake Songs Exp., Holy Thursd. 10 Their fields are bleak and bare. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 44 On a bleak height in full view.
b. In transferred use. rare.
1764Goldsm. Trav. 167 Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansion tread. 1862Mrs. Browning Musical Instr. iii. in Last Poems 55 With his hard bleak steel.
3. Cold, chilly; usually of wind or weather.
1595Shakes. John v. vii. 40 To make his bleake windes kisse my parched lips. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 72 Scarce a shed..to shelter him or me From the bleak air. 1795Southey Joan of Arc ii. 267 The cold wintry wind Blew bleak. 1814Wordsw. Excurs. i. 888 In bleak December, I retraced this way. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & Ital. Jrnls. I. 3 The wind was bleak.
4. fig. Cheerless, dreary.
a1719Addison (J.) Bleak and barren prospects. 1834H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xiv. (1857) 212 His course..lying barely beyond the bleak edge of poverty. 1846Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 126 Firmest in the bleakest hour.
5. quasi-adv.
1596Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 33 Where Boreas doth blow full bitter bleake.
▪ III. † bleak, v. Obs.|bliːk|
Forms: 5 blek-yn, bleke, 6– bleak.
[Strictly we have here 2 or even 3 formations. In sense 1, bleak is the normal northern form of bleach v.1; in 3 it is treated as a direct derivative of bleak a.; sense 4 is a variant of bleach v.2, ME. blecche to blacken.]
I.
1. To make white or pale by exposure to light; = bleach, v.1 1, 2.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxvii, Þe þred is sode, bleyȝt [1495 blekyd, 1535 bleked] and boukid. c1440Promp. Parv. 39 Bleyk cloþe or qwysters [v.r. blechen clothe, blekyn], candido. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 215 As white wax is made of yellow wax, by the bleaking it in the ayr.
2. intr. To grow pale; to pale; = bleach, v.1 3.
1606Sylvester Du Bartas (1641) 108/2 The Bedlam Bacchanalian froes, Who..Bleaking and blushing, panting, shreeking, swouning. ― Trophies 1272 Blushing and bleaking, betwixt shame and fear.
II.
3. trans. To chill or ? make livid with cold.
1605Heywood Know not me Wks. 1874 I. 291 Tis better to be bleakt by winters breath, Then to be stifled vp with summers heat.
III. 4. To blacken, darken; = bleach v.2
1611Cotgr., Haler..to bleak, or make swart, a thing, by displaying it in a hot Sunne. |