blank vs dead-end

blank

verb
  • To make void; to erase. 

  • To ignore (a person) deliberately. 

  • To prevent from scoring; for example, in a sporting event. 

  • To become blank. 

  • To be temporarily unable to remember. 

  • To render ineffective by blanketing with turbulent airflow, such as from aircraft wake or reverse thrust. 

adj
  • Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform. 

  • Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in 

  • Utterly confounded or discomfited. 

  • Empty; void; without result; fruitless. 

  • Absolute; downright; sheer. 

  • Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration. 

  • Of ammunition: having propellant but no bullets; unbulleted. 

  • Without expression, usually due to incomprehension. 

noun
  • Infertile semen. 

  • A vacant space, place, or period; a void [since the 17th century]. 

  • A dash written in place of an omitted letter or word 

  • Blank verse . 

  • Provisional words printed in italics (instead of blank spaces) in a bill before Parliament, being matters of practical detail, of which the final form will be settled in Committee . 

  • A domino without points on one or both of its divisions. 

  • An empty form without substance; anything insignificant; nothing at all . 

  • A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated [since the 16th century]. 

  • A space to be filled in on a form or template. 

  • A document, paper, or form with spaces left blank to be filled up at the pleasure of the person to whom it is given (e.g. a blank charter, ballot, form, contract, etc.), or as the event may determine; a blank form . 

  • The white spot in the centre of a target; hence (figuratively) the object to which anything is directed or aimed, the range of such aim . 

  • An unprinted leaf of a book [20th century]. 

  • The ¹ / ₂₃₀₄₀₀ of a grain [17th century]. 

  • Any article of glass on which subsequent processing is required [since the 19th century]. 

  • An empty space in one's memory; a forgotten item or memory [since the 18th century]. 

  • The shaved wax ready for placing on a recording machine for making wax records with a stylus [20th century]. 

  • The space character; the character resulting from pressing the space-bar on a keyboard. 

  • A sample for a control experiment that does not contain any of the analyte of interest, in order to deliberately produce a non-detection to verify that a detection is distinguishable from it. 

dead-end

verb
  • To come to a dead-end. 

noun
  • A road with no exit. 

  • A position that offers no hope of progress. 

adj
  • Going nowhere; blocked. 

How often have the words blank and dead-end occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )