blanket

noun

1. 1

   A heavy, loosely woven fabric, usually large and woollen, used for warmth while sleeping or resting.

   The baby was cold, so his mother put a blanket over him.

   The little boys in the front bedroom had thrown off their blankets and lay under the sheets.

2. 2

   A covering layer of anything.

   The city woke under a thick blanket of fog.

   In this case, the excavations were carried down to a depth of 3 ft. 9 in. below rail level, and pre-cast concrete slabs were laid between a 12 in. blanket of quarry waste and the ballast.

   There was no difficulty in sighting the semaphores from this timely warning to each one; but it would have been another matter if the driver had to peer continuously into that white blanket [fog] looking for them without any pre-warning.

3. 3

   A thick rubber mat used in the offset printing process to transfer ink from the plate to the paper being printed.

   A press operator must carefully wash the blanket whenever changing a plate.

4. 4

   A streak or layer of blubber in whales.

adjective

1. 1

   General; covering or encompassing everything.

   Another observer offered a less blanket criticism.

   Some others appear to be adopting a more blanket approach

   Disenchanted with socialism, they unleashed free enterprise (or tried to) and backed it up with a more-or-less blanket endorsement of the old ways.

   By contrast, any emotional or motivational explanation of autism would seem to predict too blanket a degree of social disinterest.

verb

1. 1

   To cover with, or as if with, a blanket.

   A fresh layer of snow blanketed the area.

   […] / I will preſerue my ſelfe, and am bethought / To take the baſeſt and moſt pooreſt ſhape, / That euer penury in contempt of man, / Brought neare to beaſt, my face ile grime with filth, / Blanket my loynes, elſe all my haire with knots, / And with preſented nakedness outface, / The wind, and perſecution of the skie, / […]

   I see the moon go off watch and the darkness begin to blanket the river.

   The whole world was shut away outside in blood-red glory, as he rocked in his cradle on the immaculate sea, where the warm air blanketted him above the water sheets cold below.

2. 2

   To traverse or complete thoroughly.

   The salesman blanketed the entire neighborhood.

3. 3

   To toss in a blanket by way of punishment.

   Hang him, poore grogran-raſcall, pray thee thinke not of him: I’le ſend for him to my lodging, and haue him blanketted when thou wilt, man.

   Wee'll haue our men blanket 'hem i' the hall.

4. 4

   To take the wind out of the sails of (another vessel) by sailing to windward of it.

5. 5

   To nullify the impact of (someone or something).

6. 6

   Of a radio signal: to override or block out another radio signal.

Forms

plural

blankets

past tense

blanketed, blanketted

past participle

blanketed, blanketted

present participle

blanketing, blanketting

third person singular

blankets