blight

Etymology

From Old Norse blikna (“to grow pallid”).^[1] Related to bleak.

Pronunciation

• enPR: blīt, IPA^(key): /blaɪt/
• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophone: blite

Noun

blight (countable and uncountable, plural blights)

1. (phytopathology) any of many plant diseases causing damage to, or the death of, leaves, fruit or other parts
2. the bacterium, virus or fungus that causes such a condition
3. (by extension) anything that impedes growth or development or spoils any other aspect of life

Verb

blight (third-person singular simple present blights, present participle blighting, simple past and past participle blighted)

1. (transitive) To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and fertility of.
   • Woodward

     [This vapour] blasts vegetables, blights corn and fruit, and is sometimes injurious even to man.

2. (intransitive) To suffer blight.

   This vine never blights.

3. (transitive) to spoil or ruin (something)

   Those obscene tattoos are going to blight your job prospects.

   • Byron

     seared in heart and lone and blighted

   • 1868, Anthony Trollope, He Knew He Was Right XI

     ‘I need hardly explain to you that if you persist in this refusal you and I cannot continue to live together as man and wife. All my hopes and prospects in life will be blighted by such a separation.’

References