bleck

See also: Bleck and Bléck

English

From Middle English blek (“ink”), from Old Norse blek (“black tint, ink”), from Old English blæc (“black tint or dye, ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blaką (“that which is black; blackness”).

bleck (plural blecks)

From Middle English blekken, from the noun above.

bleck (third-person singular simple present blecks, present participle blecking, simple past and past participle blecked)

(obsolete, dialect) To blacken.
(obsolete, dialect) To defile.
- 1382, John Wycliffe, A Petition to the King and Parliament; republished as chapter 33, in Thomas Arnold, editor, Select English works of John Wyclif, volume 3, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1869, Tobit i. 8., page 518:
  Þerfore ȝif oure prelatis or oþere prestis, whatevere þei ben, ben opinly blecked by sacrifise of maumetrie, as wiþ covetise, þat is opinly sacrifise of fals goddys, and oþere grete sinnes, as pride, symonye, and man-quellinge, glotonye, dronkenesse, and lecherie, by þe same skil tyþis or offringis shulde be wiþdrawyn from hem by Goddis lawe, and be ȝoven to poeure nedy men, at ensaumple of riȝtful Tobie.
  Therefore if our prelates or other priests, whatever they be, be openly defiled by sacrifice of maumetry, as with covetousness, that is open sacrifice of false gods, and other great sins, as pride, simony, and manquelling, gluttony, drunkenness, and lechery, by the same skill tithes or offerings should be withdrawn from them by God's law, and be given to poor needy men, by example of rightful Tobias.