Obs. Forms: 5 blek-yn, bleke, 6– bleak. [Strictly we have here 2 or even 3 formations. In sense 1, bleak is the normal northern form of BLEACH v.1; in 3 it is treated as a direct derivative of BLEAK a.; sense 4 is a variant of BLEACH v.2, ME. blecche to blacken.]
I. 1. To make white or pale by exposure to light; = BLEACH, v.1 1, 2.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxvii. Þe þred is sode, bleyȝt [1495 blekyd, 1535 bleked] and boukid.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 39. Bleyk cloþe or qwysters [v.r. blechen clothe, blekyn], candido.
1612. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1653), 215. As white wax is made of yellow wax, by the bleaking it in the ayr.
2. intr. To grow pale; to pale; = BLEACH, v.1 3.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas (1641), 108/2. The Bedlam Bacchanalian froes, Who … Bleaking and blushing, panting, shreeking, swouning. Ibid., Trophies, 1272. Blushing and bleaking, betwixt shame and fear.
II. 3. trans. To chill or make livid with cold.
1605. Heywood, Know not me, Wks. 1874, I. 291. Tis better to be bleakt by winters breath, Then to be stifled vp with summers heat.
III. 4. To blacken, darken; = BLEACH v.2
1611. Cotgr., Haler … to bleak, or make swart, a thing, by displaying it in a hot Sunne.
