void

 
Pronunciation: /vɔɪd/

adjective

  • 1not valid or legally binding: the contract was void
  • (of speech or action) ineffectual; useless: all the stratagems you’ve worked out are rendered void
  • 2completely empty: void spaces surround the tanks
  • (void of) free from; lacking: what were once the masterpieces of literature are now void of meaning
  • formal (of an office or position) vacant.
  • 3 [predic.] (in bridge and whist) having been dealt no cards in a particular suit: there is a danger that one of the opponents will be void in that suit when West showed void he went into a huddle

noun

  • 1a completely empty space: the black void of space
  • an unfilled space in a wall, building, or other structure.
  • an emptiness caused by the loss of something: his loss leaves a void in the community
  • 2(in bridge and whist) a suit in which a player is dealt no cards: a hand with a singleton club is more likely than one with a void

verb

[with object]
  • 1chiefly North American declare that (something) is not valid or legally binding: the Supreme court voided the statute
  • 2discharge or drain away (water, gases, etc.): the gases are usually voided into the mechanism
  • chiefly Medicine excrete (waste matter): it cannot be metabolized and is voided in the urine
  • (usually as adjective voided) empty or evacuate (a container or space): a fully voided core assembly
  • 3 (as adjective voided) Heraldry (of a bearing) having the central area cut away so as to show the field.

Derivatives

voidable

adjective

voidness

noun

Origin:

Middle English (in the sense 'unoccupied'): from a dialect variant of Old French vuide; related to Latin vacare 'vacate'; the verb partly a shortening of avoid, reinforced by Old French voider