Word.ws English Dictionary

draws a blank

draws a blank is the third-person singular simple present indicative of draw a blank.

Meaning of draw a blank

Verb

draw a blank (third-person singular simple present draws a blank, present participle drawing a blank, simple past drew a blank, past participle drawn a blank)

  1. (idiomatic) To be unable to recall a required piece of information.
    • I should know that person's name, but I'm drawing a blank.
  2. (idiomatic) To fail; not to find anything; to produce no successful response.
    • "Oh," she replied, "when I came to think of it, I saw, that you were right. I thought, 'twas quite likely it [the lottery ticket] would draw a blank.[…]"1856, Lucius Manlius Sargent, Dealings with the Dead, volume 2, page 472

Questions about draws a blank

What is draws a blank the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Draws a blank is the third-person singular simple present indicative of draw a blank.

Words near draws a blank in the dictionary

  1. drawrod
  2. drawrods
  3. draws
  4. draws a bath
  5. draws a bead on
  6. draws a blank
  7. draws a line
  8. draws a line in the sand
  9. draws a line under
  10. draws a long bow
  11. draws a sober breath

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: draws a blank (page history and authors); draw a blank (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “draws a blank.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/draws_a_blank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.