a. [ OE. voide, OF. voit, voide, vuit, vuide, F. vide, fr. (assumed) LL. vocitus, fr. L. vocare, an old form of vacare to be empty, or a kindred word. Cf. Vacant, Avoid. ] 1. Containing nothing; empty; vacant; not occupied; not filled. [ 1913 Webster ]

The earth was without form, and void. Gen. i. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

I 'll get me to a place more void. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

I 'll chain him in my study, that, at void hours,
I may run over the story of his country. Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having no incumbent; unoccupied; -- said of offices and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

Divers great offices that had been long void. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Being without; destitute; free; wanting; devoid; as, void of learning, or of common use. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

A conscience void of offense toward God. Acts xxiv. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor. Prov. xi. 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Not producing any effect; ineffectual; vain. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ My word ] shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. Isa. lv. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will make void the counsel of Judah. Jer. xix. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Containing no immaterial quality; destitute of mind or soul. “Idol, void and vain.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Law) Of no legal force or effect, incapable of confirmation or ratification; null. Cf. Voidable, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

Void space (Physics), a vacuum. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Empty; vacant; devoid; wanting; unfurnished; unsupplied; unoccupied. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An empty space; a vacuum. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defense,
And fills up all the mighty void of sense. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Voided; p. pr. & vb. n. Voiding. ] [ OF. voidier, vuidier. See Void, a. ] 1. To remove the contents of; to make or leave vacant or empty; to quit; to leave; as, to void a table. [ 1913 Webster ]

Void anon her place. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

If they will fight with us, bid them come down,
Or void the field. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To throw or send out; to evacuate; to emit; to discharge; as, to void excrements. [ 1913 Webster ]

A watchful application of mind in voiding prejudices. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

With shovel, like a fury, voided out
The earth and scattered bones. J. Webster. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To render void; to make to be of no validity or effect; to vacate; to annul; to nullify. [ 1913 Webster ]

After they had voided the obligation of the oath he had taken. Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

It was become a practice . . . to void the security that was at any time given for money so borrowed. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be emitted or evacuated. Wiseman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Capable of being voided, or evacuated. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) Capable of being avoided, or of being adjudged void, invalid, and of no force; capable of being either avoided or confirmed. [ 1913 Webster ]

If the metropolitan . . . grants letters of administration, such administration is not, but voidable by sentence. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ A voidable contract may be ratified and confirmed; to render it null and of no effect, it must be avoided; a void contract can not be ratified. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of voiding, emptying, ejecting, or evacuating. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl.) A ejection from a benefice. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The state of being void; vacancy, as of a benefice which is without an incumbent. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Evasion; subterfuge. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Emptied; evacuated. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Annulled; invalidated. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Her.) Having the inner part cut away, or left vacant, a narrow border being left at the sides, the tincture of the field being seen in the vacant space; -- said of a charge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, voids, &unr_;mpties, vacates, or annuls. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A tray, or basket, formerly used to receive or convey that which is voided or cleared away from a given place; especially, one for carrying off the remains of a meal, as fragments of food; sometimes, a basket for containing household articles, as clothes, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Piers Plowman laid the cloth, and Simplicity brought in the voider. Decker. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cloth whereon the earl dined was taken away, and the voider, wherein the plate was usually put, was set upon the cupboard's head. Hist. of Richard Hainam. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A servant whose business is to void, or clear away, a table after a meal. [ R. ] Decker. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Her.) One of the ordinaries, much like the flanch, but less rounded and therefore smaller. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Receiving what is ejected or voided. “How in our voiding lobby hast thou stood?” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of one who, or that which, voids. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is voided; that which is ejected or evacuated; a remnant; a fragment. [ R. ] Rowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

Voiding knife, a knife used for gathering up fragments of food to put them into a voider. [ 1913 Webster ]