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(), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Avoided; p. pr. & vb. n.Avoiding.] [OF. esvuidier, es (L. ex) + vuidier, voidier, to empty. See Void, a.] 1. To empty. [Obs.] Wyclif. 2. To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne. 3. To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from. [Obs.] Six of us only stayed, and the rest avoided the room. Bacon. 4. To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute. How can these grants of the king's be avoided? Spenser. 5. To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor no to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters. What need a man forestall his date of grief. And run to meet what he would most avoid ? Milton. He carefully avoided every act which could goad them into open hostility. Macaulay. 6. To get rid of. [Obs.] Shak. 7. (Pleading) To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea, or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter. Blackstone. Syn. -- To Avoid" v. i. 1. To retire; to withdraw. [Obs.] David avoided out of his presence. 1 Sam. xviii. 11. 2. (Law) To become void or vacant. [Obs.] Ayliffe. スポンサード リンク
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