From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bleak \Bleak\ (bl[=e]k), a. [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS.
bl[=a]c, bl[=ae]c, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek,
Dan. bleg, OS. bl[=e]k, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all
from the root of AS. bl[imac]can to shine; akin to OHG.
bl[imac]chen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. fle`gein
to burn, shine, Skr. bhr[=a]j to shine, and E. flame.
[root]98. Cf. {Bleach}, {Blink}, {Flame}.]
1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.]
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When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as
one that were laid out dead. --Foxe.
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2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.
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Wastes too bleak to rear
The common growth of earth, the foodful ear.
--Wordsworth.
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At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach. --Longfellow.
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3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast.
[1913 Webster] -- {Bleak"ish}, a. -- {Bleak"ly}, adv. --
{Bleak"ness}, n.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bleak \Bleak\, n. [From {Bleak}, a., cf. {Blay}.] (Zool.)
A small European river fish ({Leuciscus alburnus}), of the
family Cyprinid[ae]; the blay. [Written also {blick}.]
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Note: The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is
used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. --Baird.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
bleak
adj 1: offering little or no hope; "the future looked black";
"prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has
always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a dim
view of things" [syn: {black}, {bleak}, {dim}]
2: providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills";
"barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high
Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark
landscape" [syn: {bare}, {barren}, {bleak}, {desolate},
{stark}]
3: unpleasantly cold and damp; "bleak winds of the North
Atlantic" [syn: {bleak}, {cutting}, {raw}]
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