void

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪd

Etymology 1

From Old French vuit, voide (modern vide).

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

Having lost all legal validity

• Dutch: ongeldig, nietig (nl)
• Finnish: mitätön (fi), mitätöity
• French: nul (fr)
• German: ungültig (de), nichtig (de)
• Hungarian: érvénytelen (hu), semmis
• Indonesian: batal (id)

• Interlingua: nulle, invalide
• Maori: mārua
• Norwegian: ugyldig
• Polish: nieważny (pl) m
• Portuguese: nulo (pt) m, inválido (pt) m
• Spanish: nulo (es) m, inválido (es) m

in computing

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

Noun

Wikipedia

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

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

• Maori: hemanga
• Norwegian: intet (no) n, tomhet m, vakuum (no) n
• Polish: pustka f
• Portuguese: vazio (pt) m, vácuo (pt) m
• Russian: пустота́ (ru) f (pustotá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: празнина f

  Latin: praznina f

• Slovene: praznina f
• Spanish: vacío (es) m

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.

   • Bishop Burnet

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

   • Clarendon

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

2. (transitive, medicine) To empty.

   void one’s bowels

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

   to void excrement

   • Barrow

     a watchful application of mind in voiding prejudices

   • J. Webster

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

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To withdraw, depart.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I.16:

     suche ii brethren 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

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

   • Shakespeare

     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

• 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
• Norwegian: annulere, gjøre ugyldig
• Portuguese: anular (pt), invalidar (pt)
• Spanish: anular (es), invalidar
• Swedish: annullera (sv), upphäva (sv)

(medicine) to empty

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

• Interlingua: vacuar, evacuar
• Norwegian: tømme (no)
• Portuguese: esvaziar (pt), evacuar (pt)
• 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

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Middle French

Alternative forms

• voit

Verb

void

1. third-person singular indicative present form of veoir