void

—voidness, n.

/voyd/, adj.

1. Law. having no legal force or effect; not legally binding or enforceable.

2. useless; ineffectual; vain.

3. devoid; destitute (usually fol. by of): a life void of meaning.

4. without contents; empty.

5. without an incumbent, as an office.

6. Math. (of a set) empty.

7. (in cards) having no cards in a suit.

n.

8. an empty space; emptiness: He disappeared into the void.

9. something experienced as a loss or privation: His death left a great void in her life.

10. a gap or opening, as in a wall.

11. a vacancy; vacuum.

12. Typography. counter³ (def. 10).

13. (in cards) lack of cards in a suit: a void in clubs.

v.t.

14. to make ineffectual; invalidate; nullify: to void a check.

15. to empty; discharge; evacuate: to void excrement.

16. to clear or empty (often fol. by of): to void a chamber of occupants.

17. Archaic. to depart from; vacate.

v.i.

18. to defecate or urinate.

[1250-1300; (adj.) ME voide < AF, OF < VL *vocita, fem. of *vocitus, dissimilated var. of L vocivus, itself var. of vac(i)vus empty; see VACUUM; (v.) ME voiden < AF voider, OF < VL *vocitare, deriv. of *vocitus; (n.) deriv. of the adj.]

Syn. 3, 4. See empty. 5. vacant, unoccupied. 8. vacuum.

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