[f. BLEACH v.1]
1. The art or process of whitening or cleansing by washing and exposure, or by chemical agents.
1552. Huloet, Bleachynge, insolatio.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. ii. 126. Behold what honest cloathes you send forth to bleaching.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 109. It is this oxygen … which is the really active agent in bleaching.
† 2. A bleachery. Obs.
1677. Yarranton, Engl. Improv., 135. There are … by the River Avon side, convenient places to make Bleachings.
3. Attrib. and Comb., as bleaching-croft, -field, -fluid, -ground, -liquor, powder; bleaching-clay (see quot.).
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxi. The large open meadow which … serves at once as a bleaching-field and pleasure-walk for the inhabitants.
1822. Imison, Sc. & Art, II. 161. The rationale of the bleaching processes.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Vanderput & S., v. 85. In yonder bleaching ground.
1854. J. Scoffern, in Orr’s Circ. Sc., Chem., 422. Commercial bleaching-powder, or so-called chloride of lime.
1865. Athenæum, No. 1957. 584/1. The bleaching-crofts of Lancashire.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Bleaching-clay, Kaolin, used with size, to whiten … cotton goods.
