blanks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of blank.

   The teacher left several blanks in the worksheet for students to complete.

   The crew fired blanks during the staged shootout for the film.

   Note

   The plural carries some of the word's odder histories. Since the 16th century a lottery's blanks have been the tickets that win nothing, and in a bill before Parliament the blanks are provisional words printed in italics, practical details left for committee to settle. In everyday use the plural usually means empty spaces on a form or cartridges with no bullet, and context tells them apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of blank.

   The software blanks the display after five minutes of inactivity.

   He always blanks the sensitive figures before circulating the report.

   Note

   This form usually takes an object. Software blanks a screen, a team blanks its opponents by keeping them from scoring, and in slang someone blanks an old friend, ignoring them on purpose. The memory sense behaves differently. It prefers the first person and the progressive, as in I'm blanking on her name, so blanks on is rarer, though she always blanks on dates is perfectly natural.

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