▪ I. † blake, a. Obs. exc. dial.
Also 3–4 blac, blak.
[Chiefly northern: probably therefore, since OE. á remained in the north as ā (e.g. ake, stane, mare), blake was the direct phonetic descendant of OE. blác pale (in early southern ME. bloc, bloke), a common Teut. adj. = OS. blêc, ON. bleikr, OHG. bleih, OTeut. *blaiko-z shining, white, pale, f. root of blîkan to shine, blik. Cf. the synonyms bleak, bleyke, bloke. In Eng. the notion of ‘shining,’ i.e. white from excess of light, passed entirely into that of ‘pale,’ i.e. white from deficiency of colour, dead white. This added to the formal confusion with black, since ‘dark’ and ‘pale’ alike express deficiency or loss of colour.]
1. Pale, pallid, wan: implying deficiency or loss of colour, esp. of the ruddy hue of health, or of the full green of vegetation; of a sickly hue: thus passing on one side into ‘ash-coloured, livid,’ on another into ‘withered yellow,’ whence sense 3.
(Many early instances of blake may be examples of blak black, with final e inflexional or phonetic, the context leaving the sense uncertain. Some early forms written blac, blak, also stand for blāk, blake, and belong here. See what is said under black of the confusion of the forms of blæc and blác already in OE.)
| c 1205 Lay. 1888 Whil heo weoren blake..whil heo weoren ræde. Ibid. 19890 ænne stunde he wes blac..while he wes reod. c 1400 St. Alexius (Cott.) 236 So was he lene and blake of hewe. c 1420 Anturs Arth. li, Thayre blees weren so blake. Alle blake was thayre blees. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 187 The vynes blake awaie thowe take, eke greene And tender vynes kytte. 1530 Palsgr. 306 Blake, wan of colour. c 1596 King & Barker 7 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 4 Blake kow heydys sat he apon. |
2. Yellow. (Current in north England, from Cumberland to the Humber; but app. unknown in Scotland, and in the Eng. midlands.)
| 1691 Ray N.C. Wds., Blake, Yellow, spoken of Butter and Cheese. As blake as a Paigle. 1851 Cumberland Gloss. s.v., As blake as a marigold. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., As blake as butter. 1877 Holderness Gloss. 30 Blake [Hornsea and Bridlington], of a light yellow colour. |
▪ II. † blake, v. Obs.
Forms: 1 blácian, 2–3 blakien, 3–4 blaken, 3–5 blake.
[ME. blāke(n, was app. the north. repr. of OE. blácian to become pale, f. blác shining, white, pale: see blake a. The normal southern form would have been blokien, bloke(n, of which there are a few 13th c. instances: see bloke v. In spelling, this vb. was confounded with blăkien, blăken to grow black or dark (see black v.); and at length became obs., its place being taken by bleyke(n, bleike(n from ON. and by the cognate bleke(n and bleach.]
1. intr. To become pale.
| 1205 Lay. 19799 His neb bigon to blakien [1250 blokie]. Ibid. 7524 He ne blakede no. a 1225 St. Marhar. 9 Hire bleo bigon to blakien. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 183 Þo Normans..of contenance gan blaken. c 1460 Bone Flor. 579 Hur ble beganne to blake. |
2. trans. To make pale.
(Doubtful: Mätzner's example belongs to black v. 2.)
▪ III. blake
early ME. form of black a. and v.