Blending

to mix smoothly and inseparably together:
to blend the ingredients in a recipe.
to mix (various sorts or grades) in order to obtain a particular kind or quality:
Blend a little red paint with the blue paint.
to prepare by such mixture:
This tea is blended by mixing chamomile with pekoe.
to pronounce (an utterance) as a combined sequence of sounds.
to mix or intermingle smoothly and inseparably:
I can’t get the eggs and cream to blend.
to fit or relate harmoniously; accord; go:
The brown sofa did not blend with the purple wall.
to have no perceptible separation:
Sea and sky seemed to blend.
an act or manner of blending:
tea of our own blend.
a mixture or kind produced by blending:
a special blend of rye and wheat flours.
Linguistics. a word made by putting together parts of other words, as motel, made from motor and hotel, brunch, from breakfast and lunch, or guesstimate, from guess and estimate.
a sequence of two or more consonant sounds within a syllable, as the bl in blend; consonant cluster.
Contemporary Examples

Is Dave Eggers’ ‘The Circle’ Our Generation’s ‘1984’? Stefan Beck October 1, 2013
Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten Kick Off Paris Fall 2012 Fashion Week Robin Givhan February 29, 2012
Summer in a Glass: Everything’s Coming Up Rosés Jordan Salcito June 6, 2014
Has ISIS Peaked as a Military Power? Jacob Siegel October 21, 2014
Francis Spufford’s Red Plenty Pushes Historical Boundaries Max McGuinness February 23, 2012

Historical Examples

View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 (of 3) Henry Hallam
The Works of Whittier, Volume III (of VII) John Greenleaf Whittier
The Age of Dryden Richard Garnett
Nature Ralph Waldo Emerson
Symphonies and Their Meaning; Third Series, Modern Symphonies Philip H. Goepp

verb
to mix or mingle (components) together thoroughly
(transitive) to mix (different grades or varieties of tea, whisky, tobacco, etc) to produce a particular flavour, consistency, etc
(intransitive) to look good together; harmonize
(intransitive) (esp of colours) to shade imperceptibly into each other
noun
a mixture or type produced by blending
the act of blending
Also called portmanteau word. a word formed by joining together the beginning and the end of two other words: “brunch” is a blend of “breakfast” and “lunch”
v.
n.