avoid

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Verb 1.3.1 Usage notes 1.3.2 Translations 1.3.3 External links

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English avoiden < Anglo-Norman avoider, Old French esvuidier (“‘to empty out’”) < es- + vuidier < Latin viduare (“‘to empty’”) < viduus (“‘empty’”); see void.

[edit] Pronunciation

•  audio (US)^{help, file}
• IPA: /əˈvɔɪd/, SAMPA: /@"vOId/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪd

[edit] Verb

to avoid (third-person singular simple present avoids, present participle avoiding, simple past and past participle avoided)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To make empty; to clear.
2. (transitive, now, law) To make void, to annul; to refute (esp. a contract).
3. (transitive) To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor not to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters.
4. (transitive, law) To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea, or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To leave, evacuate; to leave as empty, to withdraw or come away from.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book X:

     And therewith anone cam another knyght of the castell; and he was smyttyn so sore that he avoyded hys sadyll.

7. (transitive) (obsolete) To get rid of.
8. (intransitive) (obsolete) To retire; to withdraw.
9. (intransitive) (obsolete) To become void or vacant.

[edit] Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

[edit] Translations

[edit] External links

• avoid in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• avoid in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911