blanket

[[t]blæ̱ŋkɪt[/t]]

blankets, blanketing, blanketed

1) N-COUNT A blanket is a large square or rectangular piece of thick cloth, especially one which you put on a bed to keep you warm.

2) N-COUNT: usu sing, N of n A blanket of something such as snow is a continuous layer of it which hides what is below or beyond it.

The mud disappeared under a blanket of snow...

Cold damp air brought in the new year under a blanket of fog.

3) N-SING: N of n You can refer to something such as an unpleasant emotion or an undesirable quality that seems to affect every aspect of a particular situation as a blanket of that emotion or quality. [LITERARY]

It seems as if the blanket of depression is in some way necessary to help them blot out the even greater pain of real life...

A blanket of silence descended.

4) VERB If something such as snow blankets an area, it covers it.

[V n] More than a foot of snow blanketed parts of Michigan...

[V n] With a thick mist now blanketing the trees, I got thoroughly lost.

5) ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n (emphasis) You use blanket to describe something when you want to emphasize that it affects or refers to every person or thing in a group, without any exceptions.

There's already a blanket ban on foreign unskilled labour in Japan.

...the blanket coverage of the Barcelona Olympics.

Syn:

comprehensive

6) → See also , security blanket, wet blanket