Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Blanket

Blanket ({not transcribed}) , noun

[French blanchet, Old French 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, from blanc white. See Blank, a.]

1.
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.
2.
(Printing) A piece of rubber, felt, or woolen cloth, used in the tympan to make it soft and elastic.
3.
A streak or layer of blubber in whales.
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark To cry, “Hold, hold!” — Shakespeare

The use of blankets formerly as curtains in theaters explains the following figure of Shakespeare.

Collocations (2)
Blanket sheet , a newspaper of folio size.
A wet blanket , anything which damps, chills, dispirits, or discourages.

Blanket , transitive verb

1.
To cover with a blanket.
I'll... blanket my loins. — Shakespeare
2.
To toss in a blanket by way of punishment.
We'll have our men blanket 'em i' the hall. — B. Jonson
3.
To take the wind out of the sails of (another vessel) by sailing to windward of her.
Collocations (1)
Blanket cattle , See Belted cattle, under Belted.