Search Result for "bleak": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (3)

1. offering little or no hope;
- Example: "the future looked black"
- Example: "prospects were bleak"
- Example: "Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge
- Example: "took a dim view of things"
[syn: black, bleak, dim]

2. providing no shelter or sustenance;
- Example: "bare rocky hills"
- Example: "barren lands"
- Example: "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"
- Example: "the desolate surface of the moon"
- Example: "a stark landscape"
[syn: bare, barren, bleak, desolate, stark]

3. unpleasantly cold and damp;
- Example: "bleak winds of the North Atlantic"
[syn: bleak, cutting, raw]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Bleak \Bleak\ (bl[=e]k), a. [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS.
   bl[=a]c, bl[=ae]c, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek,
   Dan. bleg, OS. bl[=e]k, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all
   from the root of AS. bl[imac]can to shine; akin to OHG.
   bl[imac]chen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. fle`gein
   to burn, shine, Skr. bhr[=a]j to shine, and E. flame.
   [root]98. Cf. Bleach, Blink, Flame.]
   1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as
            one that were laid out dead.          --Foxe.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.
      [1913 Webster]

            Wastes too bleak to rear
            The common growth of earth, the foodful ear.
                                                  --Wordsworth.
      [1913 Webster]

            At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach.  --Longfellow.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast.
      [1913 Webster] -- Bleak"ish, a. -- Bleak"ly, adv. --
      Bleak"ness, n.
      [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Bleak \Bleak\, n. [From Bleak, a., cf. Blay.] (Zool.)
   A small European river fish (Leuciscus alburnus), of the
   family Cyprinid[ae]; the blay. [Written also blick.]
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is
         used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. --Baird.
         [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

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, bleak, 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, bleak, desolate,
       stark]
    3: unpleasantly cold and damp; "bleak winds of the North
       Atlantic" [syn: bleak, cutting, raw]