bleach

Meanings

Adjective

• Pale; bleak.

Verb

• To treat with bleach, especially so as to whiten (fabric, paper, etc.) or lighten (hair).
• To be whitened or lightened (by the sun, for example).
• To lose color due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic unicellular algae.
• To make meaningless; to divest of meaning; to make empty.

Noun

• A chemical, such as sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide, or a preparation of such a chemical, used for disinfecting or whitening.
• A variety of bleach.
• An act of bleaching; exposure to the sun.
• A disease of the skin.

Related

Similar words

• blanch

Origin

• From Middle English bleche (also bleke), from Old English blǣċ, blǣc, variants of blāc, from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz. More at bleak.
• From Middle English blechen, from Old English blǣċan, from Proto-Germanic *blaikijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-. Cognate with Dutch bleken ("to bleach"), German bleichen ("to bleach"), Danish blege, Swedish bleka ("to bleach"). Related to Old English blāc ("pale") (English blake; compare also bleak).
• From Middle English bleche, from Old English blǣċu, blǣċo, from Proto-Germanic *blaikį̄.
• From Middle English bleche, from Old English blǣċe.