Etymology: Old English blase , blæse , weak feminine, chiefly in sense of ‘torch’ (Germanic type *blasôn- ), is cognate with Middle High German blas neuter, a torch, with Old High German blass , modern German blass ‘pale, whitish’ (originally ‘shining’), and with blaze n.² The northern forms with ē probably originated in a lengthening of the vowel of Old English blæse.

Etymology: Appears first in 17th cent.; no corresponding form occurs in Old English or Middle English But clearly identical with Old Norse blesi ‘white star on a horse's forehead,’ Middle Dutch blesse, Dutch bles, modern German blässe, blesse, all in same sense, from stem blas-, blaz- shining, white; compare Old High German blass whitish, Middle High German blas bald, modern German blasz pale. It is possible that the Old Norse word was adopted in northern dialect, and thence passed at a later date into general use; but the Dutch or Low German form may also have been introduced as a technical term c1600. (In either case the spelling has to be explained: the regular representation of Old Norse blesi would have been blese , bleeze ; if this occurred in north dialect, it would be identical with the northern form of blaze n.¹, and might, like it, be made blaze in the literary language; if adapted < Dutch or Low German, blaze must be a phonetic spelling.)

Etymology: < blaze n.¹: no corresponding verb in Old English, or in any other Germanic language.

Etymology: In sense 1 apparently the same word as Old Norse blása to blow (as the wind, with the mouth, bellows, a trumpet), Old High German blâsan (Middle High German and modern German blâsen ), Middle Dutch and Dutch blâzen , Gothic -blêsan (in uf-blêsan to blow up, puff up) < Germanic *blæ̂s-an , < root *blæ̂- (Aryan *bhlê- , Latin flāre : see blow v.¹) with suffixal -s- (perhaps from the present stem) taken into the root. The verb (*blǽs-an ) was not preserved in Old English, where it was represented only by the derivative noun blǽs-t , blast n.¹ ‘blowing.’ The Middle English verb was probably < Old Norse blása (unless direct connection with Low German or Dutch blâsen , blâzen , can be traced). Its later history is confused with that of blazon n., evidently through associating the infinitive blas-en with the pre-existing noun blason , blazon n. ‘shield, heraldic shield.’ The proper senses of blaze and blazon , acted and reacted upon each other in the 16th cent.: see senses 3 – 6, and blazon v. 4 – 6. In later uses of sense 2, there may also be often traced an association with blaze v.¹, as if to ‘blaze abroad,’ were to ‘expose to the full blaze of publicity.’

Etymology: < blaze n.²