different between screensaver vs blanker

English

Alternative forms

• screen saver
• screen-saver

Etymology

screen +? saver

Noun

screensaver (plural screensavers)

1. (software) A computer program that displays aesthetic patterns or images when the computer is not being used, originally intended to prevent screenburn.

   I configured my screensaver to appear after only two minutes, because I enjoyed watching it so much.

2. (proscribed) The background picture of a computer, smartphone, or similar mobile device.
   • 2008, Joshua Henkin, Matrimony, Vintage (?ISBN), page 163

     But she changed her screensaver, which was a photo of Julian eating scrambled eggs—he was smiling, holding his fork away from himself, as if he were waving the eggs at her—and replaced it with a photo of Olivia, looking up from her desk […]

   • 2012, Gretchen Rubin, Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life, Harmony (?ISBN)

     If he wanted praise, or sympathy, or the chance to talk over a sensitive subject, he turned to me. A friend told me that she sat down at her computer one day to discover that her husband had changed her screensaver to read: “Be nice to Lloyd.

   • 2015, Carol Ann Bartz, The Believer: An Inspirational Story of Zachary David Bartz (The Boy Who Never Gave Up), (?ISBN), chapter 36

     While we waited for Zac to be taken into surgery, I thought of all of his suffering up to this point […] It brought to mind the screensaver that Zac, a few months earlier, had changed his Ipod to.

   • 2016, Austin Duffy, This Living and Immortal Thing, Granta Books (?ISBN)

     When I arrived at the lab this morning he was back sitting in front of his computer, a million miles away, leaning forward on his elbows and staring into the depths of space. He has changed his screensaver again. The Orion nebula has been replaced with some other astronomical scape, far bleaker in its appearance but more realistic. It looks like the outermost edge of the universe.

   • 2016, Tamia Gore-Felton, Bangles and Broken Hearts 3: Return of the Bangles, Lulu.com (?ISBN), page 97

     I tiptoed over to Trent's nightstand and took his phone into the bathroom. I sat on the edge of the bathtub as I entered his code. When I saw that he'd changed his screensaver from our wedding picture to a picture of Diamond, my blood began to boil. I couldn't believe that he'd done that.

   • 2016, Candy J Starr, The Trouble With Rock Stars: Jackson's Story

     She sat at the desk and opened the drawers, then looked up at the computer screen and gave a snort.
     “Sally has Alex's picture as her screensaver. Ha, you'd think she'd be worried he'd see it. […] ”

Translations

English

Etymology

blank +? -er

Adjective

blanker

1. comparative form of blank: more blank
   • 1936, Robert Frost, "Desert Places"

     And lonely as it is, that loneliness

     Will be more lonely ere it will be less —

     A blanker whiteness of benighted snow

     With no expression, nothing to express.

Noun

blanker (plural blankers)

1. (computing) An early form of screensaver that blanked out the screen display when it was not in use.
   • 1987, Howard Bornstein, Under the Apple (page 221)

     These screen blankers prevent phosphor burn on your screen, which is always a danger when you leave the screen on too long.

Anagrams

• reblank

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

blanker

1. inflection of blank:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
   3. strong genitive plural