Blight \Blight\, v. i. To be affected by blight; to blast; as, this vine never blights.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Blight \Blight\ (bl[imac]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Blighting.]

[Perh. contr. from AS. bl[=i]cettan to glitter, fr. the same root as E. bleak. The meaning ``to blight'' comes in that case from to glitter, hence, to be white or pale, grow pale, make pale, bleach. Cf. Bleach, Bleak.]

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. 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Blight \Blight\, n.

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. 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. 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. (Zo["o]l.) 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.

5. pl. A rashlike eruption on the human skin. [U. S.]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)