Blight /(blīt)/

imp. & p. p. Blighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Blighting

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.

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.

1. To be affected by blight; to blast; as, this vine never blights.

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.

4. 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. (Zool.)
5. A rashlike eruption on the human skin. [U. S.]