a. [ OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. blāc, bl&aemacr_;c, 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. fle`gein to burn, shine, Skr. bhrāj to shine, and E. flame. √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]

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

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

a. Bleak. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]