blench

Meanings

Verb

• To shrink; start back; give way; flinch; turn aside or fly off.
• To quail.
• To deceive; cheat.
• To draw back from; shrink; avoid; elude; deny, as from fear.
• To hinder; obstruct; disconcert; foil.
• To fly off; to turn aside.
• To blanch.

Noun

• A deceit; a trick.
• A sidelong glance.

Origin

• From Middle English blench and blenchen, from Old English blenċan ("to deceive, cheat"), from Proto-Germanic *blankijaną ("to deceive"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ-. Cognate with Icelandic blekkja ("to deceive, cheat, impose upon")..
• From Old French blanchir.