Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Blight

Blight

(blīt)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Blighted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Blighting
.]
[Perh. contr. from AS.
blīcettan
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

,
Verb.
I.
To be affected by blight; to blast;
as, this vine never
blights
.

Blight

,
Noun.
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.
(Zool.)
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.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Blight

BLIGHT

, n.
1.
A disease incident to plants, affecting them variously. sometimes the whole plant perishes; sometimes only the leaves and blossoms, which will shrivel, as if scorched.
2.
Any thing nipping or blasting.
In America, I have often heard a cutaneous eruption on the human skin called by the name of blights.

BLIGHT

,
Verb.
T.
To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent growth,and fertility; to frustrate.

Definition 2024


blight

blight

English

Noun

blight (countable and uncountable, plural blights)

  1. (phytopathology) any of many plant diseases causing damage to, or the death of, leaves, fruit or other parts
  2. the bacterium, virus or fungus that causes such a condition
  3. (by extension) anything that impedes growth or development or spoils any other aspect of life

Derived terms

  • late blight
  • leaf blight
  • moth blight
  • needle blight
  • northern corn-leaf blight, northern leaf blight
  • oak blight
  • peach blight
  • pear blight
  • pine blight
  • planning blight
  • potato blight
  • rim blight
  • sandy blight
  • seedling blight
  • southern blight
  • Sphaeropsis blight
  • spinach blight
  • spur blight
  • stamen blight
  • stem blight
  • stripe blight
  • thread blight
  • tomato blight
  • twig blight
  • urban blight
  • walnut blight

Translations

Verb

blight (third-person singular simple present blights, present participle blighting, simple past and past participle blighted)

  1. (transitive) To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and fertility of.
    • Woodward
      [This vapour] blasts vegetables, blights corn and fruit, and is sometimes injurious even to man.
  2. (intransitive) To suffer blight.
    This vine never blights.
  3. (transitive) to spoil or ruin (something)
    Those obscene tattoos are going to blight your job prospects.
    • Byron
      seared in heart and lone and blighted

Translations

Derived terms

References

  1. blight” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).