blanks

Noun

blank (plural blanks)

1. (archaic, historical, obsolete) A small French coin, originally of silver, afterwards of copper, worth 5 deniers; also a silver coin of Henry V current in the parts of France then held by the English, worth about 8 pence.
   • Whosoeuer brought a fagot before the kynges tent, he shulde haue a blanke of Fraunce.1523, Jean Froissart, transl. by John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, Cronycles of Englande, Fraunce etc.
2. (obsolete) A nonplus.
3. The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim.
   • Des. […] And stood within the blank of his displeasure / For my free speech! (Act III, scene 11)1603, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
4. A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated.
   • […] and in Fortune's Lottery lies / A heap of Blanks, like this, for one ſmall Prize.1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, Thomas Creech, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together...
5. A space to be filled in on a form or template.
   • Write your answers in the blanks.
6. Provisional words printed in italics (instead of blank spaces) in a bill before Parliament, being matters of practical detail, of which the final form is to be settled in committee.

See all 39 meanings of blank