Bleak (?), a. [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. blac, blc, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS. blk, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all from the root of AS. blican to shine; akin to OHG. blichen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. to burn, shine, Skr. bhraj to shine, and E. flame. 98. Cf. Bleach, Blink, Flame.] 1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.]
When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as one that were laid out dead.
Foxe.
2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.
Wastes too bleak to rear
The common growth of earth, the foodful ear.
Wordsworth.
At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach.
Longfellow.
3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast.
-- Bleak"ish, a. -- Bleak"ly, adv. -- Bleak"ness, n.
© Webster 1913.
Bleak, n. [From Bleak, a., cf. Blay.] Zool. A small European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the family Cyprinidae; the blay. [Written also blick.]
⇒ The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is used in the manufacture of artificial pearls.
Baird.
© Webster 1913. | 
