bleach

[bleech] /blitʃ/

verb (used with object)

to make whiter or lighter in color, as by exposure to sunlight or a chemical agent; remove the color from.

Photography. to convert (the silver image of a negative or print) to a silver halide, either to remove the image or to change its tone.

verb (used without object)

to become whiter or lighter in color.

noun

a bleaching agent.

degree of paleness achieved in bleaching.

an act of bleaching.

Origin

before 1050; Middle English blechen, Old English blǣcean, derivative of blāc pale; cognate with Old Norse bleikja, Old High German bleichēn

Related forms

bleachable, adjective

bleachability, noun

half-bleached, adjective

nonbleach, noun

overbleach, verb

rebleach, verb

semibleached, adjective

unbleached, adjective

unbleaching, adjective

Synonyms

1. See whiten.

Examples from the web for bleach

The growth came back quickly even after a defrost and bleach cleaning.
The sink is full of bleach solution for scrubbing equipment and floors.
Camp-fires long consumed, and bones that bleach in the sunshine.
Coffee oils are easily dissolved in a weak chlorine bleach solution, but wash with soap and water then rinse well.
Under the smell of baking, there's some disinfectant, some bleach.
The team washed everything with bleach and smoked the victims' rooms with formaldehyde vapor.
Above the topmost branches of the papaws, the sky began to bleach faintly.
In the courtyard, amid the bleach clouds, the children chased each other.
She wants to determine what genes are activated both when coral begins to bleach and when it begins to recover.
Plans are afoot to add a server farm and a bleach factory.

British Dictionary definitions for bleach

bleach

/bliːtʃ/

verb

to make or become white or colourless, as by exposure to sunlight, by the action of chemical agents, etc

noun

a bleaching agent

the degree of whiteness resulting from bleaching

the act of bleaching

Derived Forms

bleachable, adjective
bleacher, noun

Word Origin

Old English blǣcan; related to Old Norse bleikja, Old High German bleih pale

Word Origin and History for bleach

Old English blæcan "bleach, whiten," from Proto-Germanic *blaikjan "to make white" (cf. Old Saxon blek, Old Norse bleikr, Dutch bleek, Old High German bleih, German bleich "pale;" Old Norse bleikja, Dutch bleken, German bleichen "to bleach"), from PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn" (cf. Sanskrit bhrajate "shines;" Greek phlegein "to burn;" Latin flamma "flame," fulmen "lightning," fulgere "to shine, flash," flagrare "to burn;" Old Church Slavonic belu "white;" Lithuanian balnas "pale").

The same root probably produced black; perhaps because both black and white are colorless, or because both are associated with burning. Cf. Old English scimian, related to the source of shine (n.), meaning both "to shine" and "to dim, grow dusky, grow dark." Related: Bleached; bleaching.

"act of bleaching," 1887; "a bleaching agent," 1898, probably directly from bleach (v.). The Old English noun blæce meant "leprosy;" Late Old English also had blæco "paleness," and Middle English had blech "whitening or bleaching agent."

bleach in Science

bleach

(blēch)
A chemical agent used to whiten or remove color from textiles, paper, food, and other substances and materials. Chlorine, sodium hypochlorite, and hydrogen peroxide are bleaches. Bleaches remove color by oxidation or reduction.