blank out

See also: blankout

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

blank out (third-person singular simple present blanks out, present participle blanking out, simple past and past participle blanked out)

1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To become blank.

   He removed the paper from the heat, and the paper blanked out.

   The screen blanked out during the power cut.

   1. To temporarily lose memory.

      Coordinate term: black out

      He blanked out five minutes into the meeting.

      I'm blanking out on your name, I'm afraid.

2. (transitive) To cause (something) to become blank.
   1. To erase (something), leaving a blank in its place.

      The teacher blanked out some words from the text, which the students had to fill in.

      They had to blank out five obscenities before airing the song.

   2. To erase from one's memory.

      He blanked out the abuse he had suffered as a child.

3. (idiomatic, transitive) To get even; to neutralise.

   Beckham's second-half goal blanked out Filippi's first-half header to put the score at 1-1.

Derived terms

• blankout (noun)