blanch. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

blanch

PRONUNCIATION:	blnch
VARIANT FORMS:	also blench ( blnch)
VERB:	Inflected forms: blanched also blenched, blanch·ing, blench·ing, blanch·es, blench·es
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To take the color from; bleach. 2. To whiten (a growing plant or plant part) by covering to cut off direct light. 3. To whiten (a metal) by soaking in acid or by coating with tin. 4a. To scald (almonds, for example) in order to loosen the skin. b. To scald (food) briefly, as before freezing or as a preliminary stage in preparing a dish. 5. To cause to turn white or become pale.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	To turn white or become pale: Their faces blanched in terror.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English blaunchen, to make white, from Old French blanchir, from blanche, feminine of blanc, white, of Germanic origin. See bhel-¹ in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	blancher —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.