Chapter Blasted to Bleak of B by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Bleachery
(Bleach"er*y) n.; pl. Bleacheries A place or an establishment where bleaching is done.

Bleaching
(Bleach"ing), n. The act or process of whitening, by removing color or stains; esp. the process of whitening fabrics by chemical agents. Ure.

Bleaching powder, a powder for bleaching, consisting of chloride of lime, or some other chemical or chemicals.

Bleak
(Bleak) a. [OE. blac, bleyke, bleche, AS. blac, blc, pale, wan; akin to Icel. bleikr, Sw. blek, Dan. bleg, OS. blk, D. bleek, OHG. pleih, G. bleich; all from the root of AS. blican to shine; akin to OHG. blichen to shine; cf. L. flagrare to burn, Gr. to burn, shine, Skr. bhraj to shine, and E. flame. 98. Cf. Bleach, Blink, Flame.]

1. Without color; pale; pallid. [Obs.]

When she came out she looked as pale and as bleak as one that were laid out dead.
Foxe.

2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.

Wastes too bleak to rear
The common growth of earth, the foodful ear.
Wordsworth.

At daybreak, on the bleak sea beach.
Longfellow.

3. Cold and cutting; cheerless; as, a bleak blast.

— Bleak"ish, a. — Bleak"ly, adv. — Bleak"ness, n.

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

The silvery pigment lining the scales of the bleak is used in the manufacture of artificial pearls. Baird.