English

Adjective

bleach ‎(comparative bleacher or more bleach, superlative bleachest or most bleach)

1. (archaic) Pale; bleak.

Etymology 2

From Middle English blechen, from Old English blǣċan ‎(“to bleach, whiten”), from Proto-Germanic *blaikijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‎(“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch bleken ‎(“to bleach”), German bleichen ‎(“to bleach”), Danish blege, Swedish bleka ‎(“to bleach”). Related to Old English blāc ‎(“pale”) (English blake; compare also bleak).

Verb

bleach ‎(third-person singular simple present bleaches, present participle bleaching, simple past and past participle bleached)

1. (transitive) To treat with bleach, especially so as to whiten (fabric, paper, etc.) or lighten (hair).
   • Ure

     The destruction of the colouring matters attached to the bodies to be bleached is effected either by the action of the air and light, of chlorine, or of sulphurous acid.

   • Smollett

     Immortal liberty, whose look sublime / Hath bleached the tyrant's cheek in every varying clime.

2. (intransitive, biology, of corals) to lose color due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic unicellular algae.

   Once coral bleaching begins, corals tend to continue to bleach even if the stressor is removed.

3. (transitive, figuratively) To make meaningless; to divest of meaning; to make empty.

   semantically bleached words that have become illocutionary particles

Synonyms

• blanch

Translations

Noun

bleach ‎(countable and uncountable, plural bleaches)

1. (uncountable) A chemical, such as sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide, or a preparation of such a chemical, used for disinfecting or whitening.
2. (countable) A variety of bleach.

Translations

Derived terms

• bleachfield

Etymology 3

From Middle English bleche, from Old English blǣċu, blǣċo ‎(“paleness, pallor”), from Proto-Germanic *blaikį̄ ‎(“paleness”).

Noun

bleach ‎(plural bleaches)

1. An act of bleaching; exposure to the sun.

Etymology 4

From Middle English bleche, from Old English blǣċe ‎(“irritation of the skin, leprosy; psoriasis”).

Noun

bleach ‎(plural bleaches)

1. A disease of the skin.