BLIGHT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Blight

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noun

Blight n.

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.

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.

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."

(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.

pl. A rashlike eruption on the human skin. (U. S.)

verb

Blight v. t. (past & past part. blighted; pres. part. blighting)

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."

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."

Blight v. i. To be affected by blight; to blast; as, this vine never blights.

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Etymology of 'Blight'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Blight" Quotes from Famous Books

... rebuff, whereupon it subsided through hysterical levity into frigid and brittle sarcasm and gay defiance. For a while, accordingly, the feelings of the observer were deeply moved. Yet this did not make the character of Stephanie less detestable. The blight remains upon it—and always must remain—that it repels the interest of the heart. The added blight likewise rests upon it (though this is of less consequence to a spectator), that it is burdened ...

— Shadows of the Stage • William Winter

... been imported from the Hawaiian Islands to the Philippines, they are not subject to the blight that affects them there; they have a wonderfully sweet flavor. An increase of a million dollars in the industry has recently been reported, our ...

— The Log of the Empire State • Geneve L.A. Shaffer

... Rear-admiral's official account of the battle: this affords additional particulars, and proves that every step had been taken to insure success; which, but from circumstances that often blight the fairest prospects, would have had a very different result. We shall venture to add, that, had the gallant Admiral hesitated to make the attempt, he would have rendered himself obnoxious to animadversions, not only from all the squadron under his command, but from every one on the Rock of ...

— Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez, Vol. I • Sir John Ross

... effective means can parents co-operate to check the looseness and rudeness and sinful practice that blight our homes ...

— Parent and Child Vol. III., Child Study and Training • Mosiah Hall

... further enunciation of this joyous theory of life, Young naturally replies in characteristic terms, emphasizing life's evanescence and joy's certain blight. But Sterne, though acknowledging the transitoriness of life's pleasures, denies Young's deductions. Yorick's conception of death is quite in contrast to Young's picture and one must admit that it has no ...

— Laurence Sterne in Germany • Harvey Waterman Thayer

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