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, BLIKE. 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 color, dead white. This added to the formal confusion with BLACK, since ‘dark’ and ‘pale’ alike express deficiency or loss of color.]
1. Pale, pallid, wan: implying deficiency or loss of color, 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-colored, 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.
