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)