I. ˈblīt, usu -d.+V noun
( -s )
Etymology: origin unknown
1.
a. : any disease, symptom of disease, or injury of plants characterized by or resulting in withering, cessation of growth, and a more or less general death of parts (as leaves, flowers, and stems) without rotting and caused by fungi or bacteria, viruses, unfavorable climatic conditions, or insect attack — often used with a qualifying word that describes the disorder
black blights of various plants
or that names the plant or part affected
b. : any organism causing blight ; especially : an insect (as the woolly apple aphid) that causes such a condition
2. : something that frustrates one's plans or withers one's hopes
suffering the pervading blight of poverty
3.
a. : something that impairs or destroys
the censorship … has brought under its blight Ireland's greatest poets, dramatists, and scholars — Paul Blanshard
b. : a condition or influence that lowers the value of real estate
industrial expansion may create urban blight
often : the state resulting from such a condition
congested slums and decaying areas of blight which are the outstanding disgrace of American city life — Pencil Points
4. chiefly Britain : aphid ; especially : woolly apple aphid
5. Australia : an inflammation of the eye in which the eyelids discharge a thick mucous substance that often seals them up for days and minute granular pustules develop inside the lid — called also sandy blight
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to affect (as a plant) with blight : blast
last night's hard frost blighted the late flush of growth
2. : to cause to deteriorate : ruin , frustrate
some human beings ruin and blight themselves by old-fashioned sex suppression while others ruin and blight themselves by new-fashioned sex excess — J.C.Powys
intransitive verb
: to suffer from or become affected with blight : become blasted
our potatoes blighted