The Collaborative International Dictionary
Blanket \Blan"ket\, n. [F. blanchet, OF. also blanket, a woolen waistcoat or shirt, the blanket of a printing press; prop. white woolen stuff, dim. of blanc white; blanquette a kind of white pear, fr. blanc white. See Blank, a.]
A heavy, loosely woven fabric, usually of wool, and having a nap, used in bed clothing; also, a similar fabric used as a robe; or any fabric used as a cover for a horse.
(Print.) A piece of rubber, felt, or woolen cloth, used in the tympan to make it soft and elastic.
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A streak or layer of blubber in whales.
Note: The use of blankets formerly as curtains in theaters explains the following figure of Shakespeare.
--Nares.Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark To cry, ``Hold, hold!''
--Shak.Blanket sheet, a newspaper of folio size.
A wet blanket, anything which damps, chills, dispirits, or discour?ges.
Usage examples of "a wet blanket".
The man who had laid aside a wet blanket was bare now to the waist, and Henry could see the powerful muscles play on chest and shoulders as he moved.
The cloth covered army canteen soaked in water and the handy water jug of the eastern harvest field wrapped in a wet blanket are familiar examples of an ineffectual attempt at refrigeration by evaporation.
Undoubtedly he seemed like a wet blanket and spoilsport to his merry Queen.
He pretended that he did not expect to behold us alive again, and tried to throw a wet blanket over the expedition.
Anyway, if we lie down on the blanket wet, we're going to end up sleeping on a wet blanket, which is never good.
Look what happened to that man Foster who went in there immediately afterward with a wet blanket over his head: he never came out.
In the moment before Thick's Skill-blast hit me, I became aware that all my animosity toward him had died, like a fire suddenly smothered under a wet blanket.