If a stranger approaches you in a dark alley, it might cause you to blench. Do you flinch or turn white? Actually, you could do both, and both would be considered blenching because there are two separate verbs spelled "blench" in English. The blench that means "to flinch" derives from blencan, an Old English word meaning "to deceive." The blench meaning "to turn white" is an alteration of blanch, from the French adjective blanc ("white"). Clues to which meaning is intended can often be found in context. The "flinch" use, for example, is strictly intransitive and often followed by from or at ("blenched from the sight of blood"; "didn’t blench at the sound of thunder"). The "whiten" use, meanwhile, can be intransitive ("his skin blenched with terror") or transitive ("the cold blenched her lips").
Verb (1)
she blenched from the horrible sight Verb (2)
we'll have to blench the sheets with bleach to restore that snow-white look
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
And for those who blench and tremble at the thought of audience participation, take a breath.—Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2022 Voters bored by the whole subject may blench at the prospect.—The Economist, 27 Mar. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blench.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Verb (1)
Middle English blenchen "to move suddenly or sharply, flinch, change direction, evade, mislead" (also "to shine, gleam"), going back to Old English blencan "to deceive, cheat" (attested once), probably going back to Germanic *blankjan- (whence also Old Icelandic blekkja "to impose upon"), causative derivative from *blanka- "bright" — more at blank entry 1
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