void

[vɔɪd]

adjective

1》 not valid or legally binding.

    ↘(of speech or action) ineffectual; useless.

2》 completely empty.

    ↘(void of) free from; lacking.

    ↘formal (of an office or position) vacant.

3》 (in bridge and whist) having been dealt no cards in a particular suit.

noun

1》 a completely empty space.

    ↘an unfilled space in a wall, building, or structure.

2》 (in bridge and whist) a suit in which a player is dealt no cards.

verb

1》 discharge or drain away (water, gases, etc.).

    ↘chiefly Medicine excrete (waste matter).

    ↘[usu. as adjective voided] empty or evacuate (a container or space).

2》 chiefly N. Amer. declare to be not valid or legally binding.

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

ME (in the sense 'unoccupied'): from a dialect var. of OFr. vuide; related to L. vacare 'vacate'; the verb partly a shortening of avoid, reinforced by OFr. voider.