acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, by 1955.

c. 1400, transitive, "to make white, cause to turn pale," from Old French blanchir "to whiten, wash," from blanc "white" (11c.; see blank (adj.)). In early use also "to whitewash" a building, "to remove the hull of (almonds, etc.) by soaking." Intransitive sense of "to turn white" is from 1768. Related: Blanched; blanching.

late 14c., from white (adj.) + -ish.

"to mark" (a tree, a trail), usually by cutting of a piece of bark so as to leave a white spot, 1750, American English, from blaze (n.) "white mark made on a tree" (1660s), for which see blaze (n.2).

1966, from white (adj.) + board (n.1).

Old English hwitnes; see white (adj.) + -ness.

early 13c., "white, pale, colorless," from Old French blanc "white, shining," from Frankish *blank "white, gleaming," or some other Germanic source (compare Old Norse blakkr, Old English blanca "white horse;" Old High German blanc, blanch; German blank "shining, bright"). This is reconstructed to be from Proto-Germanic *blangkaz "to shine, dazzle," an extended form of PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn," also "shining white."

The meaning "having empty spaces" is attested from c. 1400. The sense of "void of expression" (a blank look) is from 1550s. Spanish blanco, Italian bianco are said to be from Germanic. Related: Blankly, blankness.

silvery-white metallic element, 1808, coined by English chemist Sir Humphry Davy from the white alkaline earth magnesia (q.v.), in which it was found. With metallic element ending -ium.

also blue-print, 1882, from blue (adj.1) + print (n.). The process uses blue on white, or white on blue. The figurative sense of "detailed plan" is attested from 1926. As a verb by 1939.

string of seashell beads used as money by Native Americans, 1630s, shortened from New England Algonquian wampumpeag (1620s), "string of white (shell beads);" said to be compounded from wab "white" + ompe "string" + plural suffix -ag.