Blanked

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /blæŋkt/

Definitions

1. Having content obscured or removed to prevent visibility ; confined as a prisoner in jail or prison
2. Describing text or images covered or hidden deliberately ; being held in detention as a form of punishment
3. Referring to information concealed by covering or erasing ; subjected to incarceration within a correctional facility

Etymology: Blank began as an adjective for white or shining, and the sense of "covered up completely" grew out of its older meaning of making something white. The adjective came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman "blonc" and "blaunc", ultimately from Old French "blanc", "white", which the French took from a Frankish word meaning "gleaming, white, blinding". That Frankish word descends from a Germanic root for brightness, and it is related to the English "blink" and "blind" and to "blanch", which still means to whiten or go pale. The verb sense is a close cousin of the adjective's older senses. To blank something was to make it white or to wipe it clean, and the idea of erasing or covering a surface gave rise to the modern meaning of obliterating something from view. The verb is the same word as the noun and adjective "blank", meaning an empty space, which shares that sense of a surface cleared of marks.

Synonyms: erased, removed, deleted, obscured, covered

Antonyms: revealed, exposed, displayed, shown, highlighted