bleakish

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

“bleakish” is listed under Bleak.

Origin: OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. blāc, blǣc, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS. blēk, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all from the root of AS. blīcan to shine; akin to OHG. blīchen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. φλέγειν to burn, shine, Skr. bhrāj to shine, and E. flame. √98. Cf. Bleach, Blink, Flame.

1. Without color; pale; pallid. obsolete

When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as one that were laid out dead.— or Fox, John Foxe

2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.

Wastes too bleak to rear The common growth of earth, the foodful ear.— William Wordsworth

At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach.— Henry W. Longfellow

3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast.

— Bleak′wb-a1′>′ish, adjective — Bleak′wb-a1′>′ly, adverb — Bleak′wb-a1′>′ness, noun

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54