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| blanch [ blanch ] (past and past participle blanched, present participle blanch·ing, 3rd person present singular blanch·es) or blench [ blench ] (past and past participle blenched, present participle blench·ing, 3rd person present singular blench·es) |
verb |
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| Definition: |
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1. transitive verb put food briefly in boiling water: to put food in boiling water for a few seconds in order to loosen the skin or to kill enzymes
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2. intransitive verb turn pale: to become pale suddenly
  He blanched at the mention of her name.
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3. transitive verb whiten vegetables by growing in dark: to grow vegetables, especially celery and endive, in dark conditions in order to whiten the stems and improve their flavor
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4. transitive and intransitive verb lose or remove color from something: to lose color, or cause something to lose color
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| [14th century. < French blanchir "whiten" < blanche, feminine of blanc "white"] |
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| blanch·er noun |
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