(German Blindheim), a village of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, and circle of Swabia, remarkable as the scene of the defeat of the French and Bavarians on the 13th of August 1704, by the English and their confederates under the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. See BRITAIN.

BLENHEIM House, a princely mansion erected for the Duke of Marlborough at Woodstock, near Oxford, as a testimony of national gratitude, and, with the manor of Woodstock, settled on the duke and his heirs, in consideration of the eminent services performed by him, and more especially of his decisive victory at Blenheim over the French forces under Marshal Tallard. The sum of L500,000 was voted by parliament for the purchase of the manor of Woodstock, and the erection of this edifice. Blenheim, notwithstanding the malicious strictures of Swift, and the unjust criticisms of Evans and Walpole, is a magnificent pile, built by Sir John Vanbrugh, in a massive Italo-Corinthian style. Walpole's taste in architecture may well be distrusted, when it produced the crudities of Strawberry-hill. The front of Blenheim from wing to wing extends to 348 feet; and the great hall is a lofty noble apartment, in good proportions. In the house are a considerable number of fine pictures,—the most noted of which are, "The Young St Augustine and Pope Gregory," by Titian; "Europa," "Esther," and "The Massacre of the Innocents," by P. Veronese; "St Jerome," by Tintoretto; "Magdalen," by C. Dolce; many historical subjects, by Rubens; portraits by him and Vandyk; "The Woman taken in Adultery," "Isaac blessing Jacob," by Rembrandt, &c.

BLENORRHEA (βλέννη and ῥήσις), an inordinate secretion or discharge of mucus; more particularly applied to that of the urethra and vagina.