blank vs patch

blank

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

  • Infertile semen. 

  • 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. 

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. 

patch

noun
  • A small area, a small plot of land or piece of ground. 

  • A cover worn over a damaged eye, an eyepatch. 

  • A piece of any size, used to repair something for a temporary period only, or that it is temporary because it is not meant to last long or will be removed as soon as a proper repair can be made, which will happen in the near future. 

  • A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole. 

  • A small, usually contrasting but always somehow different or distinct, part of something else (location, time, size) 

  • A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting. 

  • A sound setting for a musical synthesizer (originally selected by means of a patch cable). 

  • An overlay used to obtain a stronger impression. 

  • A small piece of anything used to repair damage or a breach; as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc. 

  • A cable connecting two pieces of electrical equipment. 

  • A small piece of black silk stuck on the face or neck to heighten beauty by contrast, worn by ladies in the 17th and 18th centuries; an imitation beauty mark. 

  • A small piece of material that is manually passed through a gun barrel to clean it. 

  • A piece of greased cloth or leather used as wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore. 

  • A local region of professional responsibility. 

  • A piece of material used to cover a wound. 

  • An adhesive piece of material, impregnated with a drug, which is worn on the skin, the drug being slowly absorbed over a period of time. 

  • A patch file, a file that describes changes to be made to a computer file or files, usually changes made to a computer program that fix a programming bug. 

verb
  • To connect two pieces of electrical equipment using a cable. 

  • To mend with pieces; to repair by fastening pieces on. 

  • To join or unite the pieces of; to patch the skirt. 

  • To repair or arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner 

  • To employ a temporary, removable electronic connection, as one between two components in a communications system. 

  • To make out of pieces or patches, like a quilt. 

  • To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like 

  • To make a quick and possibly temporary change to a program. 

  • To fix or improve a computer program without a complete upgrade. 

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