"draw a blank" meaning in All languages combined

See draw a blank on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: draws a blank [present, singular, third-person], drawing a blank [participle, present], drew a blank [past], drawn a blank [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|draw<,,drew,drawn> a blank}} draw a blank (third-person singular simple present draws a blank, present participle drawing a blank, simple past drew a blank, past participle drawn a blank)
  1. (idiomatic) To be unable to recall a required piece of information. Tags: idiomatic Translations (being unable to recall a piece of information): ei tulla mieleen (Finnish), trou de mémoire [noun] (French), mieć pustkę w głowie [imperfective] (Polish), dar um branco (english: expression) (Portuguese), quedar en blanco (Spanish), tener la mente en blanco (Spanish), quedarse en blanco (Spanish), no ocurrirse nada (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-draw_a_blank-en-verb-jMJt-YfF Disambiguation of 'being unable to recall a piece of information': 97 3
  2. (idiomatic) To fail; not to find anything; to produce no successful response. Tags: idiomatic Translations (idiomatic: to fail): vetää vesiperä (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-draw_a_blank-en-verb-Z~9O7ORw Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 39 61 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 28 72 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 24 76 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 17 83 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 19 81 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 23 77 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 24 76 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 18 82 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 15 85 Disambiguation of 'idiomatic: to fail': 2 98
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: brain cramp, come up empty, draw blank, on the tip of one's tongue, thinko

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "draws a blank",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drawing a blank",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drew a blank",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drawn a blank",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "draw<,,drew,drawn> a blank"
      },
      "expansion": "draw a blank (third-person singular simple present draws a blank, present participle drawing a blank, simple past drew a blank, past participle drawn a blank)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "brain cramp"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "come up empty"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "draw blank"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "on the tip of one's tongue"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "thinko"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I should know that person's name, but I'm drawing a blank.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be unable to recall a required piece of information."
      ],
      "id": "en-draw_a_blank-en-verb-jMJt-YfF",
      "links": [
        [
          "recall",
          "recall"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be unable to recall a required piece of information."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
          "word": "ei tulla mieleen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "trou de mémoire"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "mieć pustkę w głowie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "pt",
          "english": "expression",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
          "word": "dar um branco"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
          "word": "quedar en blanco"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
          "word": "tener la mente en blanco"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
          "word": "quedarse en blanco"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
          "word": "no ocurrirse nada"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "39 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 72",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 82",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 85",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1856, Lucius Manlius Sargent, Dealings with the Dead, volume 2, page 472:",
          "text": "\"Oh,\" she replied, \"when I came to think of it, I saw, that you were right. I thought, 'twas quite likely it [the lottery ticket] would draw a blank.[…]\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Ling Ma, “Office Hours”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:",
          "text": "When she brainstormed about what else she would do, where else she would go, her mind drew a blank.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fail; not to find anything; to produce no successful response."
      ],
      "id": "en-draw_a_blank-en-verb-Z~9O7ORw",
      "links": [
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "successful",
          "successful"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To fail; not to find anything; to produce no successful response."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "idiomatic: to fail",
          "word": "vetää vesiperä"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "draw a blank"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "draws a blank",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drawing a blank",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drew a blank",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drawn a blank",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "draw<,,drew,drawn> a blank"
      },
      "expansion": "draw a blank (third-person singular simple present draws a blank, present participle drawing a blank, simple past drew a blank, past participle drawn a blank)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "brain cramp"
    },
    {
      "word": "come up empty"
    },
    {
      "word": "draw blank"
    },
    {
      "word": "on the tip of one's tongue"
    },
    {
      "word": "thinko"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I should know that person's name, but I'm drawing a blank.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be unable to recall a required piece of information."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "recall",
          "recall"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be unable to recall a required piece of information."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1856, Lucius Manlius Sargent, Dealings with the Dead, volume 2, page 472:",
          "text": "\"Oh,\" she replied, \"when I came to think of it, I saw, that you were right. I thought, 'twas quite likely it [the lottery ticket] would draw a blank.[…]\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Ling Ma, “Office Hours”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:",
          "text": "When she brainstormed about what else she would do, where else she would go, her mind drew a blank.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fail; not to find anything; to produce no successful response."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "successful",
          "successful"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To fail; not to find anything; to produce no successful response."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
      "word": "ei tulla mieleen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "trou de mémoire"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "mieć pustkę w głowie"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "english": "expression",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
      "word": "dar um branco"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
      "word": "quedar en blanco"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
      "word": "tener la mente en blanco"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
      "word": "quedarse en blanco"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "being unable to recall a piece of information",
      "word": "no ocurrirse nada"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "idiomatic: to fail",
      "word": "vetää vesiperä"
    }
  ],
  "word": "draw a blank"
}

Download raw JSONL data for draw a blank meaning in All languages combined (3.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (ee63ee9 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.