Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.
\Blight\, v. i. To be affected by blight; to blast; as, this vine never blights.
\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.]