unblank

English

Etymology

un- +‎ blank

Adjective

unblank (comparative more unblank, superlative most unblank)

1. Not blank.
   • 1971, Information Processing in Japan - Volumes 11-14, page 39:

     The symbols treated here have the following properties : i) there are many kinds of symbols, ii) the distributions of the characteristic points are biased, iii) in many cases unblank lines follow unblank lines.

   • 2001, Mary Jenson, Taking Flight from the Empty Nest, →ISBN, page 162:

     When I got to the office and opened it up, I went to turn off the alarm and suddenly my mind went blank. Well, you only have thirty seconds to get "unblank."

   • 2006, Michael D.C. Drout, J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, →ISBN:

     In the eighteenth century, blank places on a map became a symbol of rigorous standards and lent authority to all on the map that was unblank (Turchi, Maps, 37).

   • 2012, Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel, 1Q84, →ISBN, page 193:

     So Ushikawa could do as he pleased and let the music filter from right to left, as the unblank half of his brain toyed with random thoughts.

Verb

unblank (third-person singular simple present unblanks, present participle unblanking, simple past and past participle unblanked)

1. To restore content to something that is blank.
   • 1980, W. H. Tait, Radiation detection, page 199:

     Energy selection can be included by single-channel-analysing (SCA) the height of the prompt signal and using this output to unblank the display pulses.

   • 1991, Journal of Biological Photography - Volume 18, page 38:

     Thus, I could collectively blank all orbital features, unblank all eye features, and key in commands to translate or rotate “all displayed” entities.

   • 1998, John Purcell, Robert Kiesling, Linux: The Complete Reference - Book 1, →ISBN, page 1782:

     When the kernel wants to unblank the screen, it sends a SIGQUIT signal to the process running /sbin/screenblanker.

   • 2012, Ewart R N Jowett, The Wizard of the Stove Pipe Mountains, →ISBN:

     I could unblank your blinking memories of it, but as I have now told you most of the same for the third time, I will finish for Therle's benefit.