Word.ws English Dictionary

drew a blank

drew a blank is the simple past 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 drew a blank

What is drew a blank the simple past of?
Drew a blank is the simple past of draw a blank.

Words near drew a blank in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drew 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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