Forms: 1 blǽcan, 2–5 blechen, 6 bleche, bleache, 8 bleech, 6– bleach. See also the (northern) form BLEAK. Pa. t. and pple. bleached: in ME. blaȝte, blaȝt, bleyȝt: cf. teach, taȝt, teiȝht, now taught. [Com. Teut.: OE. blǽc(e)an wk. vb. = ON. bleikja, OHG. bleichên:—OTeut. *blaikjan to bleach, f. *blaiko-z, blaiki-z white: see prec. and BLAKE a.]
1. trans. To whiten (linen, etc.) by washing and exposure to sunlight, or by chemical processes.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 57. Sume bereð clene cloð to watere to blechen.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 324. Wule a weob beon, et one cherre, mid one watere wel ibleched.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 39. Blechen clothe [v.r. blekyn], candido.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 916. When … Maidens bleach their summer smockes.
1632. Massinger, City Madam, IV. iv. Some chandlers daughters, Bleaching linen in Moorfields.
1727. Pope, etc., Art Sinking, 108. Say that his linen was finely spun, and bleached on the happy plains.
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., vi. (ed. 3), 41. Bleaching linen in the open air.
b. fig. To free from stain, purify, sanctify. rare.
1868. Heavysege, Saul, 428. She may still live, be bleached with pious sighs, And showers of tears.
2. gen. To blanch or make white, to deprive of color, esp. by exposure.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 58. [The adder] his slougth vncasing, hym self now youthfulye bleacheth.
1662. Dryden, Wild Gallant, V. i. (1725), 156. ‘To have me Face bleach’d like a Tiffany with thy Brimstone.’
1791. Burns, Lament Earl Glencairne, ii. His locks were bleachèd white with time.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. v. The bones of men … bleached by drifting wind and rain.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev. (1872), I. V. ix. 179. His old head which seventy-four years have bleached.
b. To make pale with fear, etc.
c. 1760. Smollett, Ode to Indep., 8. Immortal Liberty, whose look sublime Hath bleached the tyrant’s cheek.
3. intr. To become white, whiten; to become pale, pallid or colorless.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iii. 5. The white sheete bleaching on the hedge.
1709. Addison, Tatler, No. 154, ¶ 11. Virgil … describes some Spirits as bleaching in the Winds.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxi. (1856), 266. To see the faces around him bleaching into waxen paleness.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 98/1. Different kinds of wax bleach with different degrees of facility.
1865. Miss Braddon, Sir Jasper, i. I. 22, Bones of travellers bleaching amongst the yellow sand.
b. fig. To become free from stain, be purified.
1799. Southey, Wks., III. 63. The poor souls that bleach … In that great Purgatory crucible.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. xxi. (1865), 167. Where does the taint stop? Do you bleach in three or four generations?
