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Entry 8 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Blight

/(blīt)/ · IPA /blaɪt/
01 v. t. To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and fertility of.
imp. & p. p. Blighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Blighting
  1. 1.
    To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and fertility of.
    “[This vapor] blasts vegetables, blights corn and fruit, and is sometimes injurious even to man.” — Woodward.
  2. 2.
    Hence: To destroy the happiness of; to ruin; to mar essentially; to frustrate; as, to blight one's prospects.
    “Seared in heart and lone and blighted.” — Byron.
02 v. i. To be affected by blight; to blast; as, this vine never blights.
  1. 1.
    To be affected by blight; to blast; as, this vine never blights.
03 n. Mildew; decay; anything nipping or blasting; -- applied as a general name to various injuries or diseases of plants, causing the whole or a…
  1. 1.
    Mildew; decay; anything nipping or blasting; -- applied as a general name to various injuries or diseases of plants, causing the whole or a part to wither, whether occasioned by insects, fungi, or atmospheric influences.
  2. 2.
    The act of blighting, or the state of being blighted; a withering or mildewing, or a stoppage of growth in the whole or a part of a plant, etc.
  3. 3.
    That which frustrates one's plans or withers one's hopes; that which impairs or destroys.
    “A blight seemed to have fallen over our fortunes.” — Disraeli.
  4. 4.
    A downy species of aphis, or plant louse, destructive to fruit trees, infesting both the roots and branches; -- also applied to several other injurious insects.(Zool.)
  5. 5.
    A rashlike eruption on the human skin.[U. S.]