Definition

1. Verb:
   • To cook (vegetables) briefly in boiling water, often followed by plunging into cold water: This process is typically used to preserve color, texture, or to loosen skins.
   • To turn pale or white, especially from fear, shock, or cold: This describes a sudden loss of color in a person's face.

Examples

• Verb (Cooking):
  • You should blanch the tomatoes for 30 seconds to peel them easily.
  • Blanch the green beans before freezing them to stop enzyme action.
• Verb (Turning Pale):
  • She blenched when she heard the terrible news.
  • His face blanched with terror at the sight of the ghost.

Advanced Usage

• "to blanch at something": to react to something by turning pale or showing fear or reluctance.
  • He blanched at the thought of giving a public speech.
  • The investor blanched at the enormous cost of the project.

Variants and Related Words

• Blanching (n/adj): The process or act of making something pale or white.
  • Blanching is a common pre-freezing treatment for vegetables.
• Blench (v): A less common variant meaning to turn pale or flinch. Often used interchangeably with 'blanch' in the context of fear.

Synonyms

• Parboil: To boil briefly (for the cooking sense).
• Whiten: To make or become white.
• Pale: To become less bright or vivid in color, especially of a person's face.

Phrasal Verbs

(This word is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meaning is typically conveyed alone or with the preposition 'at' as shown in Advanced Usage.)

Related Idioms

(There are no common idioms centered solely on the word 'blanch'. Its figurative use is typically direct, as in "blanch with fear".)

Verb

1. cook (vegetables) briefly
   • Parboil the beans before freezing them
2. turn pale, as if in fear