Bleak (&?;), a. [OE. blac,
bleyke, bleche, AS. blāc, bl&?;c, pale,
wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS.
bl&?;k, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all
from the root of AS. blīcan to shine; akin to OHG.
blīchen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr.
&?; to burn, shine, Skr. bhrāj 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.
Bleak, n. [From Bleak,
a., cf. Blay.] (Zoöl.) A small
European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the family
Cyprinidæ; the blay. [Written also blick.]
&fist; The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is used
in the manufacture of artificial pearls. Baird.
