Also in 4 bleche. [Sense 1 is perh. the same as OE. blǽco paleness, f. blác, blǽc, shining, pale. Sense 3 is directly from the vb.: cf. ‘a wash.’]
† 1. Whiteness, paleness. Obs.
c. 1050. Cott. Cleop. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 465. Pallor, blæco.
1400. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 255. Brest & hert was bete to bleche.
† 2. A disease of the skin. Cf. OE. blǽce leprosy.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 391. A certaine gum that is passing good for the bleach, scabs and scals in little children.
3. An act of bleaching; as ‘a thorough bleach in the sun.’
4. Comb. (See BLEACH v. 1) as bleach-croft, -field, -green, -grounds, -works, yard. Cf. BLEACHING.
1852. Tomlinson, Encycl., I. 133/2. Across the *bleach croft.
1753. Scots Mag., Sept., 468/2. Indicted for stealing … some stockings from a *bleachfield.
1724. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 114/1. The workmen employed at a neighbouring *bleach-green.
1815. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), III. 678. Who has large *bleach-grounds at Glasgow.
1818. Cobbett, Resid. U. S. (1822), 296. Some oil of vitriol works near to my *bleach-works.
a. 1788. Mrs. Delany, Life & Corr. (1861), III. 515. This place is … much enriched with *bleach yards.
