Hypertext Webster Gateway: "blight"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Blight \Blight\, v. i.
To be affected by blight; to blast; as, this vine never
blights.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Blight \Blight\ (bl[imac]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Blighted}; p.
pr. & vb. n. {Blighting}.] [Perh. contr. from AS.
bl[=i]cettan to glitter, fr. the same root as E. bleak. The
meaning ``to blight'' comes in that case from to glitter,
hence, to be white or pale, grow pale, make pale, bleach. Cf.
{Bleach}, {Bleak}.]
1. To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and
fertility of.
[This vapor] blasts vegetables, blights corn and
fruit, and is sometimes injurious even to man.
--Woodward.
2. Hence: To destroy the happiness of; to ruin; to mar
essentially; to frustrate; as, to blight one's prospects.
Seared in heart and lone and blighted. --Byron.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Blight \Blight\, n.
1. Mildew; decay; anything nipping or blasting; -- applied as
a general name to various injuries or diseases of plants,
causing the whole or a part to wither, whether occasioned
by insects, fungi, or atmospheric influences.
2. The act of blighting, or the state of being blighted; a
withering or mildewing, or a stoppage of growth in the
whole or a part of a plant, etc.
3. That which frustrates one's plans or withers one's hopes;
that which impairs or destroys.
A blight seemed to have fallen over our fortunes.
--Disraeli.
4. (Zo["o]l.) A downy species of aphis, or plant louse,
destructive to fruit trees, infesting both the roots and
branches; -- also applied to several other injurious
insects.
5. pl. A rashlike eruption on the human skin. [U. S.]
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
blight
n 1: a state or condition being blighted
2: any plant disease resulting in withering without rotting
v : cause to suffer a blight; "Too much rain may blight the
garden with mold." [syn: {plague}]
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