blanketing
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blan·ket
(blăng′kĭt)n.
1. A large piece of woven material used as a covering for warmth, especially on a bed.
2. A layer that covers or encloses: a thick blanket of snow.
adj.
1. Applying to or covering all conditions or instances: a blanket insurance policy.
2. Applying to or covering all members of a class: blanket sanctions against human-rights violators.
tr.v. blan·ket·ed, blan·ket·ing, blan·kets
1. To cover with or as if with a blanket: leaves that blanket the ground.
2. To cover so as to inhibit, suppress, or extinguish: blanketed the grease fire with sand.
3. To apply to generally and uniformly without exception: high telephone service charges that blanketed our region.
[Middle English, from Old French, an unbleached soft cloth, from blanc, white, of Germanic origin; see bhel- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.