Note: The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. --Baird. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
bleak — [ blik ] adjective * 1. ) without any reasons to feel happy or hopeful: Things look very bleak for the team. Textile workers face a bleak future. paint a bleak picture (=say that the situation is not hopeful): The survey paints a bleak picture of … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
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[=i]can to shine; akin to OHG. bl[=i]chen to shine; cf … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Bleak — may refer to:* a kind of fish ** Common Bleak ** Danube Bleak ** Italian Bleak * Bleak (band) * David B. Bleakee also* Bleek … Wikipedia
bleak — [bli:k] adj [Date: 1300 1400; : Old Norse; Origin: bleikr pale, white ] 1.) without anything to make you feel happy or hopeful a bleak future/prospect ▪ The company still hopes to find a buyer, but the future looks bleak . 2.) cold and without… … Dictionary of contemporary English
bleak — UK US /bliːk/ adjective ► not giving much hope for the future: »Their long term prospects appear bleak. »In a bleak assessment of the coming months, they said market conditions were almost certain to remain challenging … Financial and business terms
bleak — bleak·ly; bleak·ness; bleak; … English syllables
bleak — bleak1 [blēk] adj. [ME bleik < ON bleikr, pale: see BLEACH] 1. exposed to wind and cold; unsheltered; treeless; bare 2. cold and cutting; harsh 3. not cheerful; gloomy; dreary 4. not promising or hopeful [a bleak future] … English World dictionary
bleak — (adj.) c.1300, pale, from O.N. bleikr pale, whitish, blond, from P.Gmc. *blaika shining, white, from PIE root *bhel (1) to shine, flash, burn (see BLEACH (Cf. bleach) (v.)). Later bare, windswept (1530s). Sense of cheerless is c.1719 figurative… … Etymology dictionary
bleak — [adj1] barren austere, bare, blank, blighted, bombed, bulldozed, burned, chilly, cleared, cold, deforested, desert, deserted, desolate, dreary, exposed, flat, gaunt, grim, open, raw, scorched, stripped, unpopulated, unsheltered, weather beaten,… … New thesaurus
bleak — I (exposed and barren) adjective bare, barren, blank, cold, deserted, desolate, exposed, unpopulated, unsheltered, waste II (not favorable) adjective dark, depressing, disheartening, dismal, distressing, forbidding, gloomy, grave, grim,… … Law dictionary
