Hypertext Webster Gateway: "bleak"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Bleak \Bleak\, n. [From {Bleak}, a., cf. {Blay}.] (Zo["o]l.)
A small European river fish ({Leuciscus alburnus}), of the
family Cyprinid[ae]; the blay. [Written also {blick}.]
Note: The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is
used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. --Baird.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Bleak \Bleak\, a. [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. bl[=a]c, bl?c,
pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS.
bl?k, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all from the root of
AS. bl[=i]can to shine; akin to OHG. bl[=i]chen to shine; cf.
L. flagrare to burn, Gr. ? to burn, shine, Skr. bhr[=a]j to
shine, and E. flame. ?98. Cf. {Bleach}, {Blink}, {Flame}.]
1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.]
When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as
one that were laid out dead. --Foxe.
2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.
Wastes too bleak to rear The common growth of earth,
the foodful ear. --Wordsworth.
At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach. --Longfellow.
3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast. --
{Bleak"ish}, a. -- {Bleak"ly}, adv. -- {Bleak"ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
bleak
adj 1: offering little or no hope; "the future looked black";
"prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has
always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a
dim view of things" [syn: {black}, {dim}]
2: providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills";
"barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high
Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark
landscape" [syn: {bare}, {barren}, {desolate}, {stark}]
3: unpleasantly cold and damp; "bleak winds of the North
Atlantic" [syn: {cutting}, {raw}]
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