rare. Also 8 ble(e. [Perh. from blea, BLAE a. in sense of ‘livid, pale.’] The young wood of a tree under the bark; the alburnum or white wood.
1730–6. Bailey (fol.) Ble, Blea, Blee (in Chirurgery), the inward Bark of a Tree, or that Part of the wood, which was last form’d.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Suppl., s.v., While the blea remains yet soft … it may maintain a feeble vegetation.
1830. J. G. Strutt, Sylva Brit., 29. The blea and the inner bark.
