void

See also: võid

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪd

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French vuit, voide, vuide (modern vide), in turn from a Vulgar Latin *vocitus, related to Latin vacuus (“empty”).

Adjective

void (not comparable)

1. Containing nothing; empty; vacant; not occupied; not filled.
   • Bible, Genesis i. 2

     The earth was without form, and void.

   • Shakespeare

     I'll get me to a place more void.

   • Massinger

     I'll chain him in my study, that, at void hours, / I may run over the story of his country.

2. Having no incumbent; unoccupied; said of offices etc.
   • Camden

     divers great offices that had been long void

3. Being without; destitute; devoid.
   • Bible, Proverbs xi. 12

     He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor.

4. Not producing any effect; ineffectual; vain.
   • Bible, Isa. lv. 11

     [My word] shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.

   • Bible, Jer. xix. 7

     I will make void the counsel of Judah.

5. Of no legal force or effect, incapable of confirmation or ratification.

   null and void

6. Containing no immaterial quality; destitute of mind or soul.
   • Alexander Pope

     idol, void and vain

7. (computing, programming, of a function or method) That does not return a value.
   • 2005, Craig Larman, Applying UML and patterns

     In particular, the roll method is void — it has no return value.

   • 2007, Andrew Krause, Foundations of GTK+ Development

     The return value can safely be ignored if it is a void function.

Translations

containing nothing

• Finnish: tyhjä (fi)
• French: vide (fr), libre (fr)
• Italian: vuoto (it)
• Maori: hemahema, tahanga, mārua

• Old English: wēste; ǣmettig; tōm
• Russian: пустой (ru) m (pustoj), порожний (ru) m (porožnij)
• Swedish: tomrum (sv) n, tom (sv) n

unoccupied

• Finnish: tyhjä (fi)
• French: vacant (fr), vide (fr)
• Italian: vuoto (it)

• Maori: wātea
• Russian: вакантный (ru) m (vakantnyj)

being without

• Finnish: jolta puuttuu ("who is lacking")
• French: dépourvu (fr), vide (fr)

• Italian: privo (it)

not producing any effect; ineffectual; vain

• Finnish: tyhjä (fi)
• French: vide (fr), vain (fr)
• Italian: vano (it), inutile (it)

• Old English: wēste
• Russian: тщетный (ru) m (tščetnyj)

having lost all legal validity

• Dutch: ongeldig (nl), nietig (nl)
• Finnish: mitätön (fi), pätemätön (fi), mitätöity (fi)
• French: nul (fr), invalide (fr)
• German: ungültig (de), nichtig (de)
• Hungarian: érvénytelen (hu), semmis (hu)
• Indonesian: batal (id)
• Interlingua: nulle, invalide
• Italian: nullo (it), non valido
• Maori: mārua, manakore

• Norwegian: ugyldig
• Polish: nieważny (pl) m
• Portuguese: nulo (pt) m, inválido (pt) m
• Romanian: nul (ro)
• Russian: недействительный (ru) m (nedejstvitelʹnyj)
• Spanish: nulo (es) m, inválido (es) m
• Tagalog: walang-bisa
• Thai: โมฆะ (moo-ká)

containing no immaterial quality

• Finnish: tyhjä (fi)

• Italian: vuoto (it)

computing: not returning value

• Finnish: tyhjä (fi)
• Italian: nullo (it), vuoto (it), non valido

• Spanish: nulo (es) m, inválido (es) m

Noun

void (plural voids)

1. An empty space; a vacuum.

   Nobody has crossed the void since one man died trying three hundred years ago; it's high time we had another go.

   • Alexander Pope

     Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defence, / And fills up all the mighty void of sense.

2. (astronomy) An extended region of space containing no galaxies
3. (materials science) A collection of adjacent vacancies inside a crystal lattice.
4. (fluid mechanics) A pocket of vapour inside a fluid flow, created by cavitation.

Synonyms

• ((engineering) collection of vacancies): pore
• ((engineering) pocket of vapour in fluid): bubble

Translations

An empty space; a vacuum

• Catalan: buit (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 空洞 (zh) (kōngdòng)

• Czech: prázdnota f
• Danish: tomrum n
• Dutch: vacuüm (nl), leegte (nl)
• Finnish: tyhjiö (fi)
• French: vide (fr) m, néant (fr) m
• German: Leere (de) f
• Hungarian: üresség (hu), űr (hu)
• Indonesian: hampa (id)
• Interlingua: vacuo
• Italian: vacuo (it) m, vuoto (it) m
• Japanese: 超空洞 (chō kūdō)

• Maori: hemanga
• Norwegian: intet (no) n, tomhet m, vakuum (no) n, tomrom (no) n
• Old English: ġelǣr
• Polish: pustka (pl) f, próżnia (pl) f
• Portuguese: vazio (pt) m, vácuo (pt) m
• Romanian: vid (ro) n
• Russian: пустота́ (ru) f (pustotá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: празнина f

  Latin: praznina (sh) f

• Slovene: praznina f
• Spanish: vacío (es) m
• Swedish: tomrum (sv) n

Verb

void (third-person singular simple present voids, present participle voiding, simple past and past participle voided)

1. (transitive) To make invalid or worthless.

   He voided the check and returned it.

   • Earl of Clarendon (1609-1674)

     It was become a practice […] to void the security that was at any time given for money so borrowed.

   • Bishop Burnet (1643-1715)

     after they had voided the obligation of the oath he had taken

2. (transitive, medicine) To empty.

   void one’s bowels

3. To throw or send out; to evacuate; to emit; to discharge.

   to void excrement

   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

     You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur

   • John Webster (c.1580-c.1634)

     With shovel, like a fury, voided out / The earth and scattered bones.

   • Isaac Barrow (1630-1677)

     a watchful application of mind in voiding prejudices

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To withdraw, depart.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xvj, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:

     BY than come in to the feld kynge Ban as fyers as a lyon […] / Ha a said kyng Lot we must be discomfyte / for yonder I see the moste valyaunt knyght of the world / and the man of the most renoume / for suche ij bretheren as is kyng Ban & kyng bors ar not lyuynge / wherfore we must nedes voyde or deye

5. (transitive, obsolete) To remove the contents of; to make or leave vacant or empty; to quit; to leave.

   to void a table

   • 1394, Chaucer, “v. 1149”, in The Franklin's Tale^[1]:

     Somtyme a castel, al of lym and stoon; And whan hem lyked, voyded it anon.

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V

     If they will fight with us, bid them come down, / Or void the field.

Synonyms

• (make invalid or worthless): annul, cancel
• ((medicine) to empty): evacuate

Translations

to make invalid or worthless

• Catalan: anul·lar (ca), invalidar (ca)
• Dutch: annuleren (nl), ongeldig maken
• Finnish: mitätöidä (fi)
• French: annuler (fr), résilier (fr), révoquer (fr)
• German: löschen (de), annullieren (de)
• Indonesian: membatalkan
• Interlingua: annullar, invalidar
• Irish: neamhnigh

• Italian: annullare (it), invalidare
• Norwegian: annulere, gjøre ugyldig
• Portuguese: anular (pt), invalidar (pt)
• Russian: аннулировать (ru) impf (annulirovatʹ)
• Spanish: anular (es), invalidar (es)
• Swedish: annullera (sv), upphäva (sv)
• Tagalog: waling-bisa
• Welsh: dirymu

(medicine) to empty

• Dutch: legen (nl)
• Finnish: tyhjentää
• German: entleeren (de), leeren (de)
• Hungarian: ürít (hu)
• Indonesian: mengosongkan (id)
• Interlingua: vacuar, evacuar

• Italian: svuotare
• Maori: paru
• Norwegian: tømme (no)
• Portuguese: esvaziar (pt), evacuar (pt)
• Russian: опорожнять (ru) impf (oporožnjatʹ)
• Spanish: evacuar (es)

Etymology 2

Alteration of voidee.

Noun

void (plural voids)

1. (now rare, historical) A voidee. [from 15th c.]
   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 68:

     Late on the final evening, as the customary ‘void’ – spiced wine and sweetmeats – was served, more elaborate disguisings in the great hall culminated in the release of a flock of white doves.

Anagrams

• Ovid, divo

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Middle French

Alternative forms

• voit

Verb

void

1. third-person singular indicative present form of veoir