Forms: 5 bleke, 7 bleake, 7– bleak. [The 15th c. bleke points to an unrecorded OE. *blǽce weak fem. = ON. bleikja, OHG. bleicha:—OTeut. *blaikjôn- f. *blaiko- white, shining: see next word. But the only known OE. name is blǽʓe, BLAY, which is not directly connected with bleak; and it is possible that bleke was from ON., although bleyke, blayke would then have been the expected form.] A small river-fish, called also the Blay (Leuciscus alburnus); and scientifically the genus to which it belongs; also an allied sea-fish.
1496. Bk. St. Albans, Fysshynge, 32. The bleke is but a feble fysshe, yet he is holsom.
1597. Breton, Wit’s Trenchmour (1876), 7. Little fishes, as Bleakes, Roches.
1653. Walton, Angler, 205. There is also a Bleak, a fish that is ever in motion.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 237. Bleaks of the Sea, or Sea-Bleaks … are as … wholesome, as any Carp. Ibid., 269. Bleys or Bleaks are soft flesh’d, but never fat.
1787. Best, Angling, 59. The bleak, on account of its eagerness to catch flies, is called by some, the river swallow.
1880. Günther, Fishes, 604. ‘Bleak’ are numerous in Europe and Western Asia, fifteen species being known, the common Bleak is found north of the Alps only.
