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blench

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blench¹

  • /blɛnt͡ʃ/

Rhymes with -ɛntʃ

Where it comes from

From Middle English blench (noun) and blenchen (verb), from Old English blenċan (“to deceive, cheat”), from Proto-West Germanic *blankijan, from Proto-Germanic *blankijaną (“to deceive”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ-. Cognate with Icelandic blekkja (“to deceive, cheat, impose upon”).

verb blenches · blenching · blenched

  1. intransitive To shrink; start back; give way; flinch; turn aside or fly off. Blench not at thy chosen lot.
  2. intransitive, of the eye To quail.
  3. transitive To deceive; cheat.
  4. transitive To draw back from; shrink; avoid; elude; deny, as from fear. Yesterday the government proclaimed no turning back, but the lords representing the likes of the disability charity Scope or Macmillan Cancer Support should make them blench.
  5. transitive To hinder; obstruct; disconcert; foil.
  6. intransitive To fly off; to turn aside. Though sometimes you do blench from this to that.

noun blenches

  1. A deceit; a trick.
  2. A sidelong glance. These blenches gave my heart another youth.

blench²

  • /blɛnt͡ʃ/

Rhymes with -ɛntʃ

Where it comes from

Variant of blanch, from Middle English blanchen, blaunchen, from Old French blanchir (“to whiten, bleach”), from blanc (“white”), of Germanic origin; compare Middle English blenchen (“to turn pale", also "to flinch; deceive”), from Old English blenċan. More at blank.

verb blenches · blenching · blenched

  1. obsolete To blanch. The seasons are come to a stagnant stop, the trees blench and wither, the wagons role in the mica ruts with slithering harplike thuds.

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MLA

"blench." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/blench. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

blench. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/blench

Chicago

"blench." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/blench.

BibTeX
@misc{blench_2026,
  title = {blench},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/blench},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}